Winter's Rising
by Dixie Darlin
Summary: The Fox and the Hound An indepth look at Copper's transformation from puppy to hunting dog, including wolves, a scene from Bambi, and other winter phenomenons. COMPLETE
1. Too Little

Disclaimer: "The Fox and the Hound" is the property of Daniel P. Mannix and Walt Disney.

A/N: Major thank you to all who read and reviewed for my last TFATH fic! Never in my life have I had THAT many reviews for one story! Okay, here's the new one I promised you, which follows the adventures of Copper as he goes from innocent puppy to hunting dog. It's pretty much the untold story behind that scene in the movie where they show him learning how to hunt during the winter, only I stuck in more action, way more drama, stuff like that. Enjoy!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter One: Too Little**

_"Better get used to it, Chief. He's for you to look after, from now on."_

Amos Slade's remark still seemed to ring true even though it had been several months since he said it. It seemed like such a long time ago when the Master had dropped baby Copper in front of Chief's barrel, an action that required no further explanation. If Master wanted him to raise the little pup for him, then the old dog wasn't going to argue with him . . . although at first he had absolutely rejected the idea of even getting attached to the puppy.

But as time passed on, Copper began to grow on him, and Chief actually rather liked the idea of being a sort of father to little orphan. In fact, he couldn't imagine how he'd survived without having somebody to actually talk to. Humans don't speak Dog, you know.

As the white crystals fell out of the sky that crisp November evening, Chief looked back over his shoulder to see how his little friend was holding up in the deep snow. Copper seemed to be having fun, leaping into the Master's footprints in order to travel. His legs were still to short to carry him through the snow, so he'd improvised and found a fun way to get to where he was going.

Until suddenly, the little Bloodhound-mix disappeared completely underneath the powdery substance of winter, having accidentally stepped into a much deeper snowdrift. Chief rolled his eyes, knowing he was going to have to go and fetch him out. The bigger dog went over to where he had seen the pup vanish and began to nose away the cold wet snow until he saw the top of Copper's head. The little pup, embarrassed that this had happened of course, shook the remaining material from his head and looked up at Chief, who then snatched him up out of the hole by the collar and continued to follow the Master back to their cabin.

Copper hated it when he made a fool of himself, even when it was something as trivial as falling through a snowdrift. He had never seen snow until just a couple of weeks ago, and naturally being a child, had to ask what it was. At first, he had enjoyed playing with this new discovery, usually running to snap at the falling flakes and catch one on his tongue. But then it kept on falling and falling until it was too deep to play in, and Copper decided that he was tired of the cold weather and wished for Spring to hurry up and arrive.

At the present moment, however, he simply wished that he was big enough to travel in the snow without any assistance. And naturally being a child, he couldn't help but ask,

"Chief, when am I going to big enough to walk through the snow? Am I always going to be too little?"

If Chief had been aggravated, even for a second, hearing the innocent question diminished the thought and put a small smile on his face. He shifted Copper's collar further back into his jaws so that he could answer,

"Now, Copper, you know you can't stay pint-sized forever. I was a puppy once, too, you know. And I didn't stay small, did I?"

"But didn't you ever think you were never going to grow up?"

"A couple of times, yes. I was just like you, needing help to walk in the snow. Don't you worry, you'll shoot up like a weed in a few months, you'll see."

Copper looked up lovingly at him, although he really couldn't see that well dangling in mid-air. "I can't wait 'til I'm big like you, Chief."

The Trigg hound couldn't help but chuckle at him. "Sonny, you just stay a kid as long as you can and don't try to grow up so fast. By the time you get my size, you're going to wish you were a puppy again. It's not easy being a grown-up."

"But grown-ups get to do whatever they want, don't they?" Copper asked, with a bit of a confused look etched on his face. "What's so hard about telling other people what to do?"

_This kid is wearing me out_. Chief saw a light up ahead, and he knew that meant they were nearing the cabin. Thank heavens. "Copper, it's not so much as telling people what to do. It's more than that. You have to act all responsible, setting examples for everyone, and acting serious. You don't have as much free time to just goof off and act like a puppy, because . . . well, you're _not_ a puppy, and . . . oh forget it, just enjoy being little while you can."

Chief plopped Copper down on the ground where it was shallow enough for him to walk on his own and barked a few times at Amos so he would hurry up and open the door to the shelter. Copper looked down at the ground, sighed, thinking that he was never going to grow up. He then walked himself to the front door where the Master was waiting for him to get inside, and then the door shut out the cold dark world to leave the hunters in peace.

Okay, sorry if I made anyone fall asleep, but I had to start _somewhere_. It gets better as it goes along, I promise! If you're still awake, lol, then please review!


	2. Catch A Falling Star

1Disclaimer: "The Fox and the Hound" is the property of Daniel P. Mannix and Walt Disney.

Anonymous but Impressed: Thank you, hope you like this chappie just as much. Keep reading!

narfgirl: Cool, have fun on your vacation! Thanks, I thought the conversation was sweet too. Anyways, get caught up on reading as soon as you can!

The Next Political Dynasty: You poor thing, try to have fun at work and don't wear yourself out! Heh, that reminds me, I _need_ a job. Ugh. Oh well, keep reading!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Two: Catch A Falling Star**

Night fell soon after the return of the small hunting party, and the temperature seemed to drop even more as evening went by. After a quick supper consisting of some roasted deer from the pot above the fireplace, everybody felt the effects of the day on their tired muscles and went to bed.

Several hours crept by before Chief was interrupted from a lovely dream in which he was chasing an assortment of squirrels. He was just about to wrap his jaws around one of the little vermin when he suddenly felt something grab a hold of his ear and urging him to wake up. At first, he thought he was dreaming that the squirrels had suddenly gone smart on him and was now attacking him back, until it dawned upon him that he _was_ awake. He shifted his eyes towards the back of his head to see a certain puppy with a panicked look on his face.

"Copper," he said in a low voice, not appreciative of his wake-up call. "It's the middle of the night. _What_ do you want?"

"The sky's falling, you have to come see it!" the little pup told him worriedly. He grabbed the older dog's ear again. "Get up, you gotta see!"

Chief winced at Copper's sharp teeth sinking into his sensitive ear. Obviously, he wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight unless he checked out Copper's claims to "the sky was falling". He shook the child off of his head and lifted himself up of the floor.

"All right, I'll look, but I promise you that the sky ain't fallin'. Now wheredid you allegedly see all of this?"

"By the window. I was sitting on the crates below it and I saw a piece of the sky fall down."

The little pup raced him to the window, doing his best to climb up the huge crate that was sitting there so that he could somewhat see out the window. Chief rolled his eyes slightly, but went over there anyway and got up on his hind legs so that he could balance himself on the windowsill with the front paws and stick his head out the window.

At first, he was beginning to think that Copper had dreamed the whole thing up, and after a while of not seeing anything, the pup said, "Look, there it goes again!"

Chief looked up to see a bright light soaring across the night sky, disappearing from view behind the tall pines and cedars surrounding the area. Copper bounced up and down excitedly, glad that he had proved his point.

"Did ya see, did ya see? I told you it was falling!"

Chief would have laughed at him if he hadn't been too tired. "Copper, the sky ain't falling,so stop bouncing around like a March hare and listen to me."

"But, Chief, didn't you see the . . . "

"I saw it, but it wasn't a piece of the sky. It was a _shooting star_."

The puppy's head cocked over to oneside to show his confusion. "A what?"

"A shooting star. Actually, I think it's a comet, but everyone calls them shooting stars. Just a natural phenomena that happens every once in a while, nothing to get excited about."

"Oh." The little puppy was a little embarrassed for putting on a fuss overa falling star, even had his tail between his legs. Chief felt a little bad for putting the "falling sky" idea nose-first into the ground, so he added,

"Y'know, if you make a wish on it, it's supposed to come true."

The pup's eyes lit up. "Really? Any wish?"

"Well, a reasonable one. See, the wish goes up to the star, which . . . uh . . . travels to the Wishmaster, and the Wishmaster looks over your wish to see if it is able to be done and if you've been a good little boy or not, and then it's supposed to come true. But you can't tell _anyone_ what your wish is, or it gets cancelled." _Right now, I'm wishing you'd go back to bed so that I can get some sleep._

"Wow! That's awesome!"

Even a tired old dog couldn't help but smile at his gullibility and complete innocence of the matter. "Hey, while we're on the subject of stars, do you see that really big star? The brightest one in the sky?"

Copper looked. How could you miss _that_? It out-shined the rest of the stars. "Yeah."

"Well, _that_ is called the Dog Star, or Sirius. Now listen close, you remember this in case you get lost. This trick only works for dogs, understand. Next time you wander off and can't find your way back, just follow the Dog Star and you'll end up where you're supposed to be."

"Really? It's that easy?"

"Sure is." Chief yawned, feeling the night slipping away. "Look, you need to get some sleep before tomorrow. We'll talk about starssome more another night."

He picked Copper up by the collar and put him on the floor next to the woodpile. That was where the pup had been sleeping every night, supposedly to be next to the warm fireplace. The puppy curled up into a ball, and watched Chief go back to his spot at the foot of the Master's bed. Then he watched him twirl around three times in a circle before actually settling down. Copper thought it wouldn't hurt to try it, so he did the exact same thing before curling back into a ball.

He glanced out the window again, and saw the Dog Star shining down on the winter scene below it. Feeling safe with the star's presence for an odd reason, the little pup closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Sorry, if that was bore-snore, but I have to get this father-son thing down before I put them through any kind of danger, so when I finally get an idea for how to get _to_ the danger, I'll let you know. Lol. Hope ya'll keep reading, and please review!


	3. Flight of the Deer

1Disclaimer: "The Fox and the Hound" is the property of Daniel P. Mannix and Walt Disney.

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Three:** **Flight of the Deer**

All was quiet in the forest that early morn. The snow had ceased falling and the group was now heading down the well-traveled path in the woods in search of prey. The two dogs were well up in the front of the line, since that is what you want your typical dogs to do on the hunt, Chief keeping his eyes peeled for any sudden movements (no matter how slight) and his ears sharp for any small sound that may come up. Copper bounded along behind him, sniffing the air around him as he went, his long ears flopping about as he went.

"What we looking for?" he suddenly asked, diverting the older dog's attention away from his work.

"SHHH!" he scolded slightly. Copper shrank back a little when he saw that he had obviously done something wrong. In a whisper, Chief remarked, "How many times do I have to tell you? Be quiet, or the animals take flight?"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," the pup apologized promptly.

Chief ignored him and focused his attention back to what he had been doing. It was so deadly still out there, that Copper was beginning to hear his own heart beating. He began to notice that every time he breathed out, a small misty-like substance would appear before quickly disappearing into thin air. He also noticed that the snow was starting to make his feet wet, although he figured he was too cold for the snow to melt on him.

He was so busy looking down at his feet that he accidentally tripped over one of his long ears and stumbled forward, landing almost nose-first onto one of Chief's hind legs. Covering his face with his paws, thinking he was going to get a lecture on watching where he was going, he realized after a moment that Chief wasn't paying him no attention. In fact, the dog was deathly still like a statue, and for a moment Copper feared he had literally frozen solid. A low growl escaping the dog's throat was the only sign of life that Copper got that told him that he was alive.

The Master came up behind shortly, taking slow and cautious steps. Copper peered around Chief's legs to see what they were looking at when he caught glimpse of a deer . . . no, make that two deer, a mother and a fawn. They appeared to be eating some grass that had miraculously survived the snowfall and seemed to not even notice they were being watched. Copper still had his front paws wrapped around Chief's back leg, and felt the older dog tense up a little and watched the fur rise on the back of his neck. His growl seemed to vibrate through him.

The Master edged himself forward a few steps at a time in order to get closer to the deer. Copper almost followed him, as a puppy usually does, but Chief stopped him before he got too close. He knew well enough the rule that dogs are not to get in front of a loaded gun when Master is trying to shoot something.

Suddenly, the head of the mother deer lifted up and looked around as if she had heard something. Copper saw the Master stop quickly, gun still pointed and aimed at his target. Oh boy, he was going to make the loud noise with it! The noise that allows preceded the shouts of praises and patting on the head and of course a good pot roast meal afterwards.

But before the Master could make the loud nosie and smoke come out of the gun, the mother deer seemed to make a slight movement towards her fawn and before Copper could figure out what had happened, the two were off in an instance, disappearing into the forest. Chief took off like a rocket, determined not to let the animal get away. The Master said a few ugly words under his breath, and ran after them as well. Copper was left in all the confusion, but he managed to huff and puff his way in the snow.

He heard the sound of the gun going off several times, which only succeeded in making both deer and dog excited. Finally, the bullet seemed to have found its mark, for the forest was deathly quiet again and he could hear the Master giving loving words of praise to Chief for a job well done. Copper scampered up, nosed and sniffed his way around the carcass of the mother deer in order to familiarize himself with the scent for future hunts.

A sudden thought came to him. What had happened to the baby deer, the one with the spots? He looked about, but couldn't spot it anywhere. He wondered if it would be all right in the snow by himself. Could it fend for himself? Did the Master even now about the baby deer? He wondered briefly if the same thing had happened to his fox friend, Tod. Had his mother been killed in the same manner as the mother deer had been killed just now? Naturally being a child, he had to ask,

"Chief, what's to happen to baby deer? Will it be okay on its own?"

Chief looked a little appalled at the question, if not a little uncomfortable answering. He hadn't necessarily wanted Copper to see them killing a mother that still had a growing child with it. That was the reason he hadn't taken the time to coach Copper on how to handle a deer-hunting situation at that moment.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it too much, sonny. I'm sure it's old enough to take care of itself by now," he told him assuredly, although he wasn't too sure himself if the fawn would make it through the winter alone.

"Well, come on, boys," Amos Slade said at length. "Let's get her back to the cabin before she freezes, huh? Oh, we're going to have a good dinner tonight!"

Hm, did that little deer scene sound familiar to another Disney film? It should, the two deer in this chapter were none other than Bambi and his mother! Funny old world, isn't it? Will the mother deer's death have any impact on Copper? Will it resurrect memories of his own mother? Gotta keep reading to find out! That is, whenever I can put up the next chapter, so be patient!


	4. Do You Remember?

A/N: I am SOOOOOOOOOOO sorry that I took so long in updating this story! I got caught up in a little personal drama at school that I finally have worked out, then I remembered I didn't finish this story, so okay, here's chapter 4! Sorry for the extremely long wait!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Four: Do You Remember?**

Copper was unable to sleep that night. He couldn't get the image of that baby deer out of his mind. What was he doing right now? Was he wondering what had happened to his mother out there in the woods? Was he out there calling for her and trying to find her?

For some reason, these questions about the deer led the pup to wonder what had happened to _his_ mother. Strange, he had never wondered about her before. The last time he had seen her, he wasn't even able to talk yet. All he remembered about her was that she was loving, warm, and supplied food. This scared Copper a little. Would he forget everything about his mother entirely after a few years?

Copper eased up from his sleeping position and tiptoed his way over to where Chief was asleep. He clumsily balanced himself on his hind legs and grabbed a hold of the older dog's ear with his teeth and tugged on it, hoping to wake him up.

He woke up.

"Copper," Chief yawned as he realized who it was that was interrupting his sleep. "Honestly, do you realize that you're starting to make a bad habit in waking me up every night? What is it this time?"

The puppy sort of looked down at his front paws and slowly moved his tail back and forth. "Chief? Do you remember your mother?"

The question came as a sudden shock. Remember his mother? He had forgotten that she existed. It had been so long since he had seen her, he literally couldn't remember a thing about her.

A little hesitantly, he asked, "Uh, why do you want to know that?"

"Because I can't remember much about mine."

"Oh. Well, um . . . this wouldn't have anything to do with what happened today in the woods with that deer, would it?"

Copper gave a guilty look and wagged his tail even slower. "Kinda."

"Oh boy. Listen, sonny, here's a little lesson in life that everybody should know. Sooner or later, it is mandatory that you leave your mother. Otherwise you'll never grow up. She's responsible for helping you grow up enough so that you can go out and make it on your own, and that's it. Now, some dogs do stay with their mothers all their lives, but that's only them high-class breeding dogs that do that. I don't agree with that, but that's my opinion. Anyways, the same thing applies to that baby deer out there. He don't have a mother anymore, so he's going to have to make it alone unless he's lucky enough to find . . . I don't know, a relative or something. But sooner or later, he's going to forget about his mother because she isn't around to take care of him anymore. Right now, you're starting to forget about yours because you haven't seen her in several months. I haven't thought about mine since I was your age myself. I don't remember a blasted thing."

He patted the little pup on the head with a front paw. "Don't stress yourself, kid, you don't have much farther to go before you're old enough to deal with life yourself. Until then, just try not to think too much about your mom and get some sleep."

Copper turned around real slow and walked back to his spot by the woodpile with his nose almost touching the floor in drowsiness. Chief watched him for a couple of seconds, sighed, then said,

"Hey, Copper?" The puppy perked his ears up and looked back at him. "If you want to, you can spend the night with me . . . but _only_ for tonight. Okay?"

Copper wagged his tail happily and bounded back over to where his friend was and curled up next to him. He fell asleep so fast, he didn't get a chance to say "Good-night."

Okay, bore-snore, I'm trying to lead up to some action in this, which should come sooner or later, I haven't decided yet. I don't even know when I'll update this story again. But I'm sure it won't be another 2 to 3 months before I do so! Sorry again about that, but please review!


	5. The BlackHearted Hound

The Mouse Avenger: Thanks! Well, not exactly _traumatized_ per say, but close enough. Keep reading!

Anonymous but Impressed: Thanks for understanding! And thank you for the compliment, I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost my touch or something since I'm almost out of practice in writing.

EbonyPatriot: Thank you, and I LOVE your Bambi fic, it is totally awesome. You made the story sound more interesting, since the movie could've had more stuff like THAT in it.

ForeverYoung: Hah, Chief being mushy? Perish the thought, that would be SO out of character :) Glad you updated yours, hope to see another chappie of yours soon.

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Five: The Black-Hearted Hound**

The next morning, Copper awoke to the sound of barking. At first, he thought it might have been Chief but then he realized that there was more than one dog barking out there. In fact, it sounded like a _lot _of dogs. Hounds to be exact. Neither Chief nor the Master was in the cabin, so the little puppy bounded across the room to the outside door and peered out.

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He had never seen so many dogs in one place before in his life! Of course, he was only around 4 months old at the time, so he hadn't seen much of the world at all. There had to be at least twelve hounds out there. Chief was standing beside the Master knee-deep in snow while Amos was talking to the owner of the large pack, but when he saw Copper standing outside he went over to him . . . just to make sure none of the other dogs got any ideas to try and rough house with him or something.

"Chief, where did all these dogs come from?" the puppy asked as Chief sat down beside him on the porch. "I've never seen so many of them!"

"Oh, they belong to that high-society rich boy over there. I think his name is Eric Lemmons. He and the Master used to hunt together when they were younger, but I get the feeling that they aren't quite good buddies anymore. Something to do with Eric killing a baby fawn when it was separated from its mother."

Copper remembered the little deer from yesterday and his eyes got big. He knew it couldn't possibly be the same fawn, but he still couldn't process through his innocent mind how someone could be heartless to kill a baby animal.

He continued to look at the strange dogs in their front yard, not helping but think how beautiful they were. They were clean-cut, almost polished looking, ivory white with rich brown and tan markings on them. He bet that they didn't trip over _their_ long ears! One of them in particular was of special interest to him. He was a bit bigger than the other ones and seemed to possess a certained dignified air, obviously the leader of the pack. Instead of having the brown markings of the other dogs, he had a very deep black color to his fur.

"Chief, what kind of dogs are those?"

"They're all American Foxhounds, except for that bigger one. Yeah, the one with the snooty look slapped across his face. He's an English Foxhound. Heh, big jerk thinks he's something else coming over here contaminating United States forests with his foreign germs."

Copper giggled at that remark, believing that the actual truth was that old Chief was just jealous of him. The dog in question had heard the pup's laughter and raised his solid black head their direction and smirked in spite of himself. He hated everyone except himself, his heart as black as his markings. He loved making himself known, especially to those "poor, unprivileged souls", so he strutted himself over to where he could introduce himself to the strangers. (A/N: I'm not being mean-spirited to the British, heck, I have always wanted to visit the place, it just goes along with the story to have a bad guy and have some rivalry.)

"Hallo there, chaps," he said smoothly in his British accent, revealing that he was obviously an import from the country itself. "I believe we have not been introduced. My name is Nero, the leader of this fine pack before you (whom I have no time to introduce). And what, pray tell, might be your names?"

Copper loved meeting new people so he had bounced up and said, "I'm Copper and this is my friend, Chief."

The older dog could have died of embarrassment. Puppies were such . . . _children_ sometimes. He saw Nero giving the puppy a smirk before it turned into a laugh.

"Ha ha ha, you are obviously lower class citizens, to have been given such ridiculous names!"

Copper got a little confused as to why Nero was laughing at them, so he looked up at Chief and asked, "Did I miss something?"

Chief had the hair on the back of his neck raised and his eyes were glaring at the spoiled hound in front of him. "Lower-class?" he asked him in a growl. "Is that some fancy word for 'trash', buster?"

"You can call it that," Nero laughed, wiping his eyes with his paw. "Sometimes I pity you mongrels."

"I'd be surprised if you pitied your own mother," Chief told him in a serious tone. "And another thing, I don't appreciate being called a 'mongrel', as you call it. I happen to be a purebred Trigg hound."

"What the deuce is _that_, I have never heard of such."

"That's because it's an American breed, unlike you, ya mangy foreigner."

Nero looked like he had just been slapped in the face. He had never been insulted by anybody before, and he wasn't about to start now. Especially from some _American_.

"You backwoods, ignorant old fool," the English dog snarled. He looked down to see Copper giggling over what Chief had called him. "And _you_ pint-sized little 'redneck', as you _Americans_ say." Copper's eyes got big when Nero stuck his big nose in his little face. "With the friends you have now, you're probably going to grow up to be nothing but an even bigger piece of garbage than you are now."

Chief stood over the frightened puppy, who naturally did not understand half of what was going on, and stuck his nose in front of Nero's.

"Listen here, hot shot," he growled, "You don't miss with the kid while _I'm _here, understand?"

"Oh of course," Nero smirked, now studying the claws on his left paw. "What would people say if I traumatized little children and the elderly?"

"_Elderly?" _Copper could have sworn he saw Chief's eyes twitching with rage. That was never a good sign . . .

"You heard me, Pops."

Before the black and white dog could proceed any further in his insulting comments, the grayish Trigg had pounced him and attached his jaws to his throat. Copper skidded around in fright and ran inside the cabin only to peek out behind the doorpost, shaking in fright.

The two dogs were tearing into each other whenever the two Masters sprung in and grabbed their respective dogs by the collar in order to jerk them apart. All of the dogs in the yard were howling now, being riled up at the sudden display in action, and Eric Lemmons was yelling at them to hush.

After the two humans argued over whose dog it was that had started the spectacle in the first place, Eric at last led his pack away. But that was not before Nero had threatened,

"This isn't the last you'll see of me, you . . . Smitty, give me an insulting word."

Smitty, the youngest of the packhounds (perhaps of the age of one year), replied meekly, "Um, potlickers, sir?"

"Good enough. This isn't the last you'll see of me, you potlickers!"

Copper heard Chief muttering something under his breath before he turned and stormed himself inside the cabin. Copper stepped back so he wouldn't get stepped on and dared not to say a word in fear that he might get snapped at for speaking. It had been a long time since he had seen Chief get so angry. The last time that happened was when the pup's fox friend, Tod, had come to visit . . . which we can all safely say did not go well at all.

Amos at this time also came in and shut the door with a loud BANG, an angry look etched across his face. He headed over to where the table was to sit down to a cup of coffee, but not before kicking Chief in the tail end and muttering some curse words.

"YIPE YIPE YIPE!" the old dog whined, his tail tucked in between his legs and diving under the bed to prevent further injury from heading his way.

"Stupid dog . . . need to learn to control your temper."

There you go, I put in _some_ action, plus a bad guy, who is not going to be in every chapter. I'm not putting him in again until later on when Copper is more grown up. You'll find out why when I get there, so hang tight, and still don't know when the next update will be, so keep ya'lls britches on and I'll try my best! And please review!


	6. Lost

Anonymous but Impressed: Glad you liked it! Yeah, Nero's one nasty character isn't he? But we won't be seeing him again until WAY later in the story. You'll find out why when the time comes. Until then, keep reading!

The Mouse Avenger: Thanks! I'm glad you're liking things so far! Hope you stay with me!

Forever Young: Yeah, Nero was this evil emperor that would imprison Christians then burn them alive on stakes that lit up his driveway at night. So, yeah, I definitely don't like him (considering I'm a Christian!). Woo-hoo, Star Wars Episode 3 comes out next month finally!

TonyBoy: I'm glad you like it. Bambi was a pretty good movie, but they could have made it more like the book in my opinion. I am against abusing domestic animals as well, but that seemed like something Amos would do. Trust me, he won't do it again in the story :)

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Six: Lost**

It had been several hours since the incident involving Nero, but Copper could still sense that Chief was extremely agitated over the entire deal. Even as the threesome hiked their way through a dense forest, the older dog's feelings were quite obvious. Copper was glad that the snow was not so deep here in the forest because he had a feeling that Chief wouldn't come back and get him if he fell through another snowdrift.

The puppy was lagging behind as usual, the cold air blowing in his face. The wind brought along several different smells, some of which he recognized and some which he didn't. _Let's see, there's a rabbit . . . deer . . . wow, a turkey . . . hmmm, I _think_ that's a squirrel . . . _The little hound's nose was pressed towards the snow inhaling the scents like a small vacuum, his body moving in a weaving pattern in order to get as much scent as possible. He was so caught up in his present activity, that he hadn't realized he had wandered away from his two mentors. And neither Chief nor the Master realized that their small comrade had disappeared from the path.

The little puppy bounded his way through the underbrush and twigs, every so often tripping over one of his long dark-brown ears, but still he eagerly kept on. One scent in particular was becoming stronger to him. About five minutes had past by when he heard a small crunching noise in front of him. He glanced up and noticed a squirrel sitting on a tree stump, his back turned away from the dog, and determinedly eating the inside out of an acorn.

Copper still was oblivious to the fact that he had wandered away from his friends and decided to have a bit of fun with this squirrel. He lowered his tiny body towards the ground and inched his way closer and closer towards the bushy-tailed rodent, careful not to make any noise. Tee-hee, pouncing was such fun!

_SNAP!_ Uh-oh, he had stepped on a twig, and now the squirrel looked up from his acorn and twitched his ears and nose. He caught a glimpse of the small hound behind him and immediately bounded off onto a pile of rocks in front of him. Copper realized his prey was escaping him, so he bounced up and began to bark . . . or _attempted_ to bark. The cold air was hurting his small lungs somewhat and he couldn't howl like he normally did. It was coming out as a very embarrassing _squeak_.

The pup's behavior alarmed the squirrel even further, and the small rodent rapidly began to climb up the first tree he came into contact with, before jumping onto the neighboring tree. The puppy chased after him, head held high to where he could see him and hopped up and down as he unknowingly traveled farther and farther from the path . . .

* * *

Meanwhile, Chief was ignorant of the fact that Copper was no longer following behind him and was concentrating very hard on doing his job. His pride was very hurt after the incident that morning . . . first by that _Nero_ character's insults and second by the Master's sudden display of anger . . . which he could still feel somewhat in his tail section. It was embarrassing to get scolded like that in front of Copper, since he _was _the adult of the two.

His attention on his thoughts were broken by sudden movement up ahead from a thick bush. The word "rabbit" flashed in his mind. It was a small animal, surely Copper would be able to handle that on his own. Chief turned around to whisper to the pup to come closer up, but when he did so he made a horrifying revelation. _Copper wasn't behind him!_

His small gray ears perked up on top of his head and he walked backwards to see if he could find any of Copper's small pawprints. He put his nose to the ground but he couldn't find Copper's scent either. The older dog began to get extremely worried about him, bounded back to the Master and pawed at his leg with a whine in his throat.

"Chief, what is the matter with you?" Amos growled in a low voice. "You're going to scare that rabbit off!"

When the Trigg continued whining, then did a sort of "Lassie" routine where he would walk backwards and whine, then run back to the Master, and repeat the process did Amos finally comprehend what was bothering his dog.

"What? Dagnabbit, where has that Copper pup gone to this time?" the hunter said a little angrily, but there was a hint of worry in his voice. There was no telling where Copper could have gone off to out here. He didn't even now how long he had been missing, so he could be anywhere.

"Well, don't just stand there," Amos said to Chief. "Let's backtrack and try to find him before he gets himself hurt or something."

* * *

Copper had wandered off very far at this point, still pursuing the same squirrel. At length, the squirrel made it back to his nest and nestled up inside, glad to be away from the bothersome puppy. Copper's voice was pretty tired from barking, stopped to sit down and panted. He was disappointed that he didn't get the squirrel, but he still had fun from doing it!

This is when he realized that he hadn't seen or heard Chief and the Master in a very long time. He glanced around him, but saw neither one. He paced around in a wide circle, hoping to catch their scent, but he was unable to do so. The snow was falling again and it was growing colder. Copper decided to trace his steps back to where he had last seen his two friends, but he couldn't find any familiar landmarks. He had no idea which way he had come. The snow had done covered up his tracks, so that would be of no help to him.

"Chief?" he called in a tired voice, desperate to hear a voice answer him. "Chief?"

Copper sat down miserably in the snow and shivered. He suddenly wished he hadn't gone off on his own. He didn't like being alone by himself. The forest looked scarier. In the distance, he heard a low howl. But it wasn't like any howl he had ever heard before. It didn't sound like a dog's howl. He heard the howl again, and then he heard several howls all around him. Getting closer . . . and closer . . .

Dun dun dun, what has little Copper gotten himself into this time? Will Chief and Amos find him before something happens? Okay, that's a big "DUH" but keep reading anyway!


	7. Found

A/N: I am so terribly sorry that this chapter took so long to make it to the site, but I have been overwhelmed with school necessities and now I'm in summer school, so I definitely don't know when the next chappie will be. Sorry, I didn't have to time to write responses for all the wonderful reviews I have gotten. Thank you for reading and having some patience, hopefully.

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Seven: Found**

The howling was getting closer to the trembling puppy as he stood there under the snow-laden trees alone. He fidgeted in his movements, not knowing if he should make a run in any random direction he chose or stay put and wish that it would all go away. He turned in a jerky circle, trying to face whatever it was that was coming for him.

Copper's eyes widened when he was able to at last see one of the creatures. He had never seen such a thing in his life. It appeared to be a large dog, beautifully colored in its thick gray and white streaked fur. Pointed ears sat atop his majestic looking head, and cold dark eyes pierced through the falling snow. The pup could not take his eyes off the animal, which he was sure was some sort of wild canine.

The dog-like creature snarled and brought Copper's attention to the pointed white teeth that he had so firmly planted in his jaws. The hound glanced around him quickly when he heard a howl behind him and realized that at least five of these creatures had him trapped in a circle. He didn't know what their intentions were, but he had a gut feeling that it couldn't be good.

One of the smaller canines knelt down and snapped forward at Copper's hind legs, causing the pup to bounce forward and tuck his tail tightly between his legs, yelping slightly. Did they plan to capture and torture him to death, only to have him for dinner later on? Had he mistakenly entered their territory and was to pay the price in this barbaric way?

The primitive creatures edged in closer, waiting to see which one of them would be the first to make such an easy kill. The little dog closed his eyes, not wanting to see the terrible evil grins they seemed to have on their faces. When he did this, he thought he heard some barking in the distance. But no, it wasn't possible. He must have been so frightened that he was hearing things.

But the barking kept coming, and it was getting louder by the minute. Even the strange dogs could not have missed this and all of them fixed their eyes on what was coming. Suddenly, the air became filled with loud noises—growling, snarling, barking, yelping. It was the most horrible sound he had ever heard. Curious, he popped his eyes open and noticed that he was no longer in a trapped circle surrounded by sinister looking creatures. They had all jumped forward it seemed and were now going after—

"Chief!" the pup exclaimed, overwhelmed that his friend had found him. He heard a gun shot go off not far in front of him, sending the strange animals to scatter a few feet while Chief regained some strength from the tireless devils.

"Copper, go to Master right NOW!" the older dog shouted in between breaths while he tackled one opponent to the ground. "GO!"

Copper ran ahead, past the commotion of the fight and kept on going until he reached the Master, who was holding his rifle and shooting at the creatures to get them off his dog's back. Copper positioned himself behind the Master's foot and watched from there. He saw one of the wild animals fall back on his side, a red stain soaking his elegant coat. Copper recognized it as the life source of all living things. When it comes out of you, you die.

When the others noticed their dead companion, three of the remaining four took off in a lope through the woods, not wanting to suffer the same fate. The leader fought a few minutes longer before eventually taking off himself, howling as if swearing revenge.

Still catching his breath, Chief headed back towards Amos, who was muttering some sort of word under his breath about what had just taken place. Relieved that his pal was okay, Copper went scampering up to the old dog and gave him a big hug around one of his front legs.

"I'm so glad you found me, Chief, I got scared I was never going to see---"

Chief shook the pup gently off of him and glared down at him in a serious way. "Copper, what in the _world_ were you thinking wandering off like that? Don't you realize you could have been killed today?"

"But I-I didn't mean to," the little puppyexplained, feeling guilty for having gotten the three into this mess. "I was just---"

"You were just playing around, that's what," Chief finished for him. He bent his head down to the youngster's level and said, "You don't _ever_ wander off, especially in strange territory, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Copper responded quietly, casting his eyes downward and tucking his tail between his legs.

* * *

_Yes, sir?_ Copper had never called him "Sir" before. That was a little awkward to answer to. And that look that Copper had used when saying that was just . . . heartbreaking. It had made the old hound feel a little bad for being hard on him like that. _But _the little pup was going to have to learn that it was dangerous to go off on your own like that without telling anybody.

Right now, they were all asleep in the cabin . . . well, everybody except Chief. What had happened today had shook him up real bad. He hadn't had to fight a wolf in several years. He had forgotten how terrifying it wasto be surrounded by a pack of them out in the snow. He glanced over at Copper, who was surprisingly sound asleep over by the firewood stack. Poor little feller, must have been pretty mixed up when those wolves came around him. And it probably didn't help much that he had gotten yelled at whenever he had been through such a predicament.

Chief heard the Master snore before he flipped over to his other side in his sleep. Humans were so embarrassing when they went to sleep. All that rolling around was a bit annoying at times. He was glad that he normally slept outside in a barrel so he wouldn't have to suffer through it night after night.

The grayish Trigg walked pretty quietly to where Copper was and, as much as he hated to, woke the little guy up. The pint-sized mutt stirred a little bit when he felt somebody poking on his shoulder but he eventually opened his little brown eyes and yawned.

"Is it morning all ready?" he asked, rubbing one of his eyes with a paw. "It sure is dark in here for morning."

"That's because it's still night. Listen, sonny, I think I need to explain to you what happened earlier today."

"How come those dogs were trying to eat me?" the little pup asked right off the bat.

"Dogs?" Chief couldn't help but chuckle. "Copper, those weren't dogs. Those were _wolves_."

"Wolves? They looked like dogs to me."

"Well, we're kind of cousins, but I don't think anybody ever explained that to them. They're kinda primitive, always running around howling at stuff, homeless, live in tribes. Dogs on the other hand are more civilized and were kind enough to live with the humans to help them survive. Without us, they wouldn't be able to get any food or anything. That's what me and you are for. Anyhow, I'm sorry I blew up at ya earlier, I know you were scared and probably didn't mean to wander off."

"I was chasing a squirrel, but he kept jumping into the trees, so I followed him."

"Oh, is that what it was?" the old dog smiled, remembering the first time he chased a squirrel down. Bothersome little rascals, they were.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Aw, I wasn't mad at _you_, really. I just got scared is all."

Copper eyes bugged out when he heard that last part. "_You_ get scared? I thought you weren't scared of anything."

Chief grinned at him. "Everybody gets scared, kid. I got scared today because I thought you were going to get killed by those vicious barbarian cousins of ours. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty scared of failure, too. That's why I exert myself so hard."

"I don't think you're a failure. I think you're awesome." Copper gave him a hug around the neck. "I love you, Chief."

That was the first time anybody had ever told him that, and hearing from that innocent little mouth was just heartwarming. "I love you too, Copper."

Aww, that was sweet, huh? Kinda got scary there for a minute with them wolves, huh? Well, I have no idea when I'll update this story again. Got summer school going on plus I need to find a job somewhere and make some moo-lah. Anyways, I hope ya'll enjoyed, and I'm sorry it took so long to write this! Please review!


	8. Thin Ice, Part One

Lone Wolfdog: Yeah, he can be sweet sometimes, huh? Yeah, I got a copy of it for Christmas, I could NOT put it down, it was awesome! Totally loved Snitter, he was too cute.

Narfgirl: It's all right, I understand. I've been behind on reading some stories myself, what with college this summer, yuck. Glad you liked!

Anonymous but Impressed: Thankyou for your patience. I'm glad you're enjoying this story enough to wait long weeks for me to finally update it! Sorry it takes so long, but good writing takes a while, especially when you have to study all the time!

Forever Young: Yeah, it sounded "Chief-like" to say that. The wolves will be making future appearances, plus some other cool stuff will happen, so stay tuned!

Tonyboy: I know they are not really bad, but I could see them going after a little puppy, especially in the winter when there's not much food. Personally, I love wolves, they're one of my favorite non-domesticated animals. (Dogs are my favorite domesticated ones, if you can't tell.) Glad you enjoy!

The Mouse Avenger: I'm glad you liked it, I thought it was sweet too. I always thought of them as father-son. Hope you keep reading!

Cathy: Don't flip out, I love wolves too! They're going to be of help in the future and turn out to be protectors of the forest. They're even going to have tribal names, kinda like Indians. You know, names like "Soaring Eagle" or "Loved by the Stars" or something. But, yeah, they'll end up being nice wolves, so no need to fear about them being stereotyped as ravenous killers in this fic.

tinks-belle85: And the next chapter is up . . . right now! Enjoy reading!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Eight: Thin Ice, Pt. 1**

**_One Month Later . . . _**

_Alas, the days of adolesence have arrived,_ Chief thought glumly to himself as he suddenly realized to himself that Copper was growing up rather fast under his watch. The young bloodhound-mix had grown quite a bit the past month. His pudgy-faced puppy look was disappearing and he was being to look more like a grown dog. His snout had gotten considerably longer, as well as his legs, and it seemed he had finally been able to grow into his long brown ears. He still acted like a pup on several occassions, and his new favorite game to play was"wrasslin". Now that he was about half of Chief's size, he was able to rough-house with the older dog, and usually got scolded from the Master when something would get knocked off the table when the two dogs ran into one of its legs.

One thing about Copper that Chief was beginning to get bugged about was that he had developed this habit of following him around. At first, it was cute, but now it was just plumb annoying. When a dog ages, they usually prefer to be left alone, but it looked as if Copper wasn't going to let Chief have any of that time alone. The gray hound believed that perhaps this "following around" stage was a result of his telling the pup to not wander off any more, like after that wolf pack incident. If he wasn't going to wander off, he was going to stay glued to his mentor obviously.

In reality, the reason Copper did this irritating behavior constantly was because he wanted to know how adult dogs did things. He had realized that he was growingolder and figured that the only way to learn to be like an adult was to follow one around. And so began the "copy-cat" stage. Everything Chief did, Copper did. If he barked at something, Copper would too. If he ran, Copper would be right there. It didn't matter how ridiculous it was, Copper would be right there doing the exact same thing. Well, except for that time Chief nearly bit his head off for following him when he was trying to have some "privacy time" and "do his business". Copper didn't do that again.

On this snowy day, the trio were out on the hunt again as always. Chief was up front, as was his place, and Copper was prancing along behind a few feet. He was glad he was able to walk in the deep snow on his own now and loved to bounce around and run in it. At least he wasn't consistently yapping, as he did when he was a young puppy. He had learned to somewhat behave and be quiet while on the hunt.

The day wasn't going very productively. Therehadn't beenany sign of game anywhere today, which was rather unusual. Chiefboredly sniffed at atinyplant, nothing but twigs left on it, and moved on when he determined that nothing had left its mark beside it. Copper came upand staredat the same plant that his mentor had just analyzed, grinned at it playfully, and practically buried the shrub under the snow by roughly shoveling it around in a very unprofessional way. He stillhad much to learn about controlling his enthusiasm when putting his nose to good use.

Just when Chief wasabout todie of complete boredom, a small snap of a twig reached hisears, which perked up at once tofind the origin ofthe noise. His sharp eyes leveled in on asmall brown rabbit in the distance, trying to reach the tops of a dying shrub for food. A low growl escaped the dog's throat and bared his teeth, crouching down slightly to ready himself for a long-awaited chase. Copper looked up and saw that his friendhad found something, and did the exact same thing . . . only it was more of a pitiful practicesnarl than a threatening growl.

Chief was at the point of rushing out and beginning the chase when out of nowhere Copper came flying up in front of him, sending a spray ofcold snow in the older dog's face.Blinded temporarily, he could still hear the pupshrilly barking at the now-frightened rabbit, and he quickly shook the snow off his face and fixedhis glaring eyes ahead as he watched the silly dog scramble in the snow to try and catch his running prey.

The rabbit, however,had afew tricks up his sleeve to get Copper off its tail.It took a detour onto an iced over pond and, thanks to traction in hisclaws and beautifulbalance, was able to escape. Copper on the other hand was not expecting an encounter with frozen water and lost his balance horribly, ending upslipping forwards first and then the back legs giving out on him. It was a dreadfully embarrassing position to be in, which ran through the yound dog's head when Chief trotted up to see whatsort of predicament he had gotten himself into this time.

The old dog shook his head in disapproval at Copper's recent failure. There were times that Chief believed Copper just wasn't cut out for this life. However, he still tried mentoring him and teaching him the right way of doing things.

"Copper, how many times have I warned you about ice on the ponds?"

The small hound at this point was trying to untangle his legs, which takes great concentration, and was a little hesistant in answering. "I don't know, five?"

"Try fifteen.Now, listen, if you're going to be any good at this kind of living, you're going to have to not rush into things and make a mess out of it.You'll end up making a fool of yourself." Chief walked a little slowly down the incline of the pond, but only enough to get just a bit closer to Copper without actually making contact with the ice. "If you had just been patient and watched me, I would have showed you what to do when you're quarry makes a break for the ice. Are you listening to me?"

Copper had managed to get one leg out from under him, but now he was going to have to get the other three out. "Yes, sir."

"I don't believe you, but I'll continue anyway. See, when a rabbit or any other game animal escapes onto an icy pond, what you are _supposed _to do is run around the perimeter of the pond and just bark at him. He'll turn around and slide the other direction and you just keep going around in circles with him. He can't escape because he doesn't want to get caught, and eventually all that sliding around is going to get him tuckered out. When he gets tired, he's going to goof up and end up sliding into the bank. That's whenyou rush down and clamp you're jaws real tight around the little rascal's neck. You get that?"

"Yes, sir." He really wasn'tpaying attention. He had gotten another leg out but ended up putting the first legback underneath him. "Uh, Chief,howdo I get off this pond?"

He didn't get an answer because at this point, the Master had shown up and was watching with slight humor at his dog. He chuckled, saying, "You crazy pup, dogs don't belong on ice. Let's see if we can get you out of there."

Chief stayed back about a foot to give Amos room to get onto the ice and make his way towards the younger hound. Copper felt a little skittish, trying to try and at least meet the Master half-way, but he just wasn't able to. The elderly human was just about to reach out and grab Copper's navy-blue collar when he heard something crack under his feet.

Amos had failed to remember that humans weigh more than dogs. Copper's smaller body was able to stay on top of the ice without falling through, yet the grown man was not. In the blink of an eye, a horrible crackling was heard and the Master disappeared under the deadly surface . . .

Will Amos survive being trapped under the ice? Will his two dogs be able to save him? Find out next time on Winter's Rising! And again, no idea when the next chappie will be up, so please be patient!


	9. Thin Ice, Part Two

tinks-belle85: Don't worry, Amos is rescued! Yeah, I love putting in father-son things in here, it was kinda what spurred me to write this. Keep reading!

narfgirl: Copper is a cutie, isn't he? I know he obviously survives, but it was just an idea for some action. Glad you like, and keep reading!

thefoxandthehoundfan: I'm glad you joined in! Yeah, it is kind of hard to base an entire story around one or two little ten-second scenes from a movie, but I suppose I'm doing a good job so far since that is what everyone has been saying. Keep reading!

The Mouse Avenger: Thanks! Hope you like this chapter just as much!

Anonymous but Impressed: Thanks for understanding. Yep, that was pretty dramatic, and here comes some more right for ya!

EbonyPatriot: Thank you. Actually this story is very rarely updated because it takes so long to write a good chapter. It's tough making the story go the way I want to and not make it sound like some kid wrote it. But at last, here is chapter nine, and hope you enjoy it!

Cathy: Yeah, I was trying to use those scenes from the movie as a kind of guideline for how the story goes. I know, I hear horror stories too, but I really don't believe them. There's gonna be a wolf in this scene, and its definitely not going to be a "bad" wolf. Hope you like!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Nine: Thin Ice, Pt. 2**

When the Master was seen going under the ice, Chief wasted no time in leaping from his sitting position and grabbing a tight hold on the hunter's fur-lined coat in effort to keep his head above the water. The old dog was extremely frightened; he had never had to deal with such a catastrophe and wasn't quite sure how to handle it. The ice under his paws was much more slippery than he had thought and was unable to get a firm grip with his claws. He was worried that he might go underwater while still attached to the Master.

Copper realized that things were going horribly wrong and was befuddled as in what to do. He stared in horror as the Master flailed his arms and constantly spat out the cold water he collected in his mouth because of screaming. It looked there for a while that Chief would go down with him, and Copper didn't know if he would be able to handle the loss.

After he managed to get over the initial shock, the bloodhound-mix at last inched his way over to the Master (still unable to walk on the slippery surface) and managed to grab a hold of one of the Master's sleeves as he was flinging his arms about in terror. This allowed for the man to try and grab a hold of the ice surrounding him and try to get a grip of himself. Unfortunately, his hand slipped and he wound up cutting it on the jagged edge of the broken ice.

Copper saw the blood on the ice, although it wasn't that much, and he thought he might faint from the sight of it. Seeing the game animals' blood was no big deal to him, but seeing the life-source come out of the Master was sickening.

Amos tried yet again to try and heave himself up and this time managed to get a good hold. With his two dogs trying desperately to hold his head up, the man was able to at last somewhat haul himself out of nature's death trap crawl to the shoreline. He fell on his stomach, breathing deep and heavily from his ordeal. Chief sort of slid over to him, since that was the only thing he could do and tried to warm his Master by lying over him and sharing body heat.

The old dog knew that the Master would not live long unless they got him someplace warm for him to rest. He would not fare well in the snow. But there was no way that two dogs could drag a waterlogged full grown man across several acres to the cabin. He was at a loss for once. He was terrified of losing the Master, and was not keen on the idea of becoming a homeless stray. But more importantly, he didn't want Copper growing up without a home, especially at his young age. The poor pup wouldn't be able to fend for himself and would likely perish within a month.

"Copper?" Chief said softly, requiring his young charge to come over to where he was. It took a while, but the pup did manage to make it over there. "Copper, the Master isn't going to live much longer unless we get him back to the cabin and get a fire going to warm him up. But with us being dogs, that is beyond our abilities. Now you listen to me, and you listen good. You're going to have to go and find help, human help that is, and bring him back here. Understand?"

"But . . . Chief, I don't know if I can . . ."

"Don't you dare give me that! The Master is in big trouble, Copper, and we're going to lose him if you don't go and get some help! You're younger than I am and even if you weren't, I'm too worn out to go hiking around finding help. I'll stay here and try to keep him as warm as possible, but it won't be long until the cold takes him forever. Do you understand me?"

Copper gulped and reluctantly disappeared over the pond levee, leaving the two of his friends behind.

* * *

How long had it been? It seemed as if he had been wandering around for hours, although he knew it hadn't been because it was not yet dark. He wished that the Dog Star was out during the day so he would be able to somehow use its light to find help.

Copper's mind was troubled with the fact that perhaps it was his fault that this had happened. _He_ was the one who had gone out on the pond. _He_ was the one who required the Master's help in getting off. _He_ was the reason that the Master had to step on the deadly ice and fall in and nearly die.

Copper had seen many things die over the months on the hunt but it was different now that it was somebody he loved. He wondered briefly if all the squirrels, racoons, deer, and other animals' they had killed had families who mourned their losses. He recalled the baby deer from a month ago when the Master had killed the mother doe. Did the fawn weep over her death? Did he even survive the many weeks after that?

His thoughts were broken when he looked ahead and saw a magnificent sight. He stood dead still, not wanting to attract attention to himself. A wolf was sitting up ahead, a beautiful mysterious creature of the forest. Recalling his childhood experience with a wolf pack, Copper was afraid that this wolf would bring others and surely attack him. However, this one seemed slightly peaceful and calm . . . a she-wolf.

Copper didn't know how a she-wolf would respond to a dog being in her territory. He had never asked Chief about females, and therefore was ignorant of how they might act. For now, the wolf was standing about ten yards in front of him, staring at him with eyes that said she had lived a very long time and was wise in the ways of the world. She seemed pure white at a glimpse but at a closer glance you could see that her fur was grizzled with a light silver. Her bright eyes seemed to glow as she studied the hound, who was slightly trembling in nervousness.

Without warning, she quickly turned and fled to the area that had been behind her. Intrigued by this creature, Copper found himself following her as if she were a beacon of hope for weary travelers. After running for maybe five minutes, he realized that he had lost her trail, and was unable to pick up a scent. However, he did pick up another interesting scent . . . smoke. The fact that smoke was present meant fire, which meant man, which meant help for the Master. Copper stumbled in the snow, following the scent of burning wood and came upon a clearing not far ahead of him. His eyes scanned a small lodge mainly covered in many furs of animals for signs of life. A paint horse was seen tied outside to a small fence post, who whinnied and shoveled at the snow with his front hoof.

A man was seen coming out of the lodge, but it was not like any man Copper had ever seen. His face was dark and had the blackest hair tied in two braids that were swept up in front of the man's shoulders. He wore the strangest clothing; it looked as if he were covered entirely in animal hide.

Regardless of his appearance, Copper understood this to be a man and might be the only man he would come in contact with so he stepped out of the brush and slowly made his way towards him, not sure how he would react. The strange man looked up when he heard the moving of branches and saw the dog. He knew this not to be a wild dog, but a white man's dog, perhaps lost in the hunt. Or perhaps the owner was wounded the dog didn't know what else to do except wander off.

The man was a Native American, of Cheyenne heritage, whose name was White Buffalo. He had not been in a tribe since he was four and was raised most of his life in a reservation, until escaping and making his living in the mountains of Montana, where he was now. He lived as a loner, still preserving the ways of his people the best he could remember how, but he had developed some white man skills in order to survive. He didn't engage in trade for money, for he had no use for it. Money was the root of all evil, after all.

White Buffalo was cooking a piece of deer over the fire he had burning and the dog was inching closer. He wondered if it was hungry and tore off a small piece and pitched in the hound's direction. Copper sniffed at the meat and gobbled it right up, hungry from his traveling. Perhaps the strange man would be of help to him and came closer. More pieces of meat came and the closer the dog got. At last, White Buffalo was able to pat the hound on the head.

"Good dog."

Sorry to cut it short right there, but that's the way it is! Will White Buffalo realize that Copper needs help? Will Amos still be alive after all this? Keep reading to find out!


	10. The Stranger

narfgirl: I do too, I think it makes for a mysterious edge to the story! See if White Buffalo figured it out in this chappie, so keep reading!

tinks-bell85: Yes, Native Americans were not well liked in the time period that the characters live, although they were the nicest people around in my opinion. At least the ones on that Into the West miniseries on TNT were friendly despite the horror they went through. Yeah, to me nothing beats a dog's loyalty for his Master! Keep reading!

morph: Thanks, and I'm trying to update as soon as I get the time needed to write a good chapter! Keep reading!

Forever Young: I love wolves, they're so majestic! Glad you like, and I like your fic too, hope you update again soon! Keep reading!

thefoxandthehoundfan: Wow, I'm glad you liked all the chapters enough to review them all! Well, I raised the ratings "just in case", but if there's going to be any T-rated stuff in here it will be towards the finale, to make for a grand ending. Anyways, thanks for the reviews, and keep reading!

* * *

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Ten: The Stranger**

Chief wasn't extremely sure if he liked this man that Copper had dragged back with him or not. The man smelt like a game animal, which the older dog took to mean that he was one of the animals themselves. However, he was glad that Copper had brought somebody to help the Master out, even if he may have been a bit strange.

Copper has assured his mentor that the stranger was friendly and was able to help. When they had arrived at the cabin (the dogs leading the way), the man ably toted the unconscious hunter inside. He immediately set work on making a fire to keep the room warm. Being a wilderness recluse, White Buffalo knew how to take care of himself in all circumstances, and was sure able to take care of another human until he was able to get back on his feet.

Since dogs cannot speak English, therefore not able to know what White Buffalo's name was, they simply referred to him as the Stranger. Copper was personally rather fond of the man, who had been the one to have found him to begin with. Chief tried to stay as far away as he could; his trust wasn't easily won.

Amos was unconscious for only half of the day, much his dogs' delight. His eyes flickered and tried to focus on his surroundings. He was briefly surprised that he was lying in his bed with a nice fire going to boot. How had he ended up here? It was impossible for the dogs to drag him from that icy lake.

The Master groaned as he tried to sit up, getting the attention of the hounds, who rushed to the side of the bed loyally. Hard as he tried, Amos just couldn't make himself raise up from the bed. That incident at the pond must have really weakened him. He hoped to be better soon, for there was still plenty of hunting left to be done.

Imagine the shock he received when a man whom he had never seen before entered his cabin with an armload of firewood from outside. Copper went padding over to the Stranger and nosed around on his shoes to clean them of the snow. Chief merely stayed put where he was. He wanted nothing to do with the man.

"Hey, who are you?" the Master croaked, having given up on lifting himself and was now once again settled on the pillow.

"I see you are awake. Good," the Stranger simply replied as he sat the firewood down on the floor. "My name is White Buffalo."

Amos's eyes seemed to widen when he realized what kind of a person he was talking to. "Injun!" He looked as if he wanted to grab his shotgun and blow the man to smithereens, but White Buffalo shushed him.

"I am not going to harm you, nor steal from you. Your dog came to me at my camp and begged me to follow him, which I did, and felt the need to save you from the cold."

"Why didn't you just mind your own business, redskin, I could have handled things on my own," the Master growled slightly. Hearing the Angry Voice, Chief glared at the Stranger and growled, too. Only Copper remained silent.

White Buffalo ignored this. He was used to the anger of White Men since before he ever became a member of the reservation. He simply decided they were just to selfish and ignorant to ask for help, so he just chose to overlook it.

"I brought in some wood for the fire in case it goes out," the Stranger informed him, taking off the coonskin cap he wore on his head. "It should last a while."

"Look, if you think you're going to stay here—"

"I have no need to stay. Like I said, I have a camp of my own that I can return to at any time."

"Then why don't you go back to it already and leave us alone? I can take care of myself."

"Very well," the Stranger shrugged. He knew the White Man would not be able to get out of bed for at least another day, but it was not his place to come in and nursemaid him if he didn't want it.

Copper seemed to sense that the Stranger was going to be leaving them and whined. White Buffalo knelt down and petted his head. "You have friendly dog. What is his name?"

Amos sighed, thinking he was never going to get him to leave. "It's Copper, and no he's not for sale."

"I have no need for a dog," White Buffalo assured him, letting the young hound lick his fingers. Chief rolled his eyes before lying down on the floor. Leave it to a pup to be friendly to everyone that drops in. "So long, Copper. It was a pleasure meeting you."

Amos scoffed, and the Stranger put his hat back on and headed out the door. Saddened that his new friend was leaving so soon, Copper trotted out with him to where he was heading towards his paint horse. The Stranger noticed this.

"No, no. You have to stay with your Master and keep him safe. Besides, you wouldn't like it with me."

He jumped gracefully onto his horse's back and tore off into a gallop into the forest. Copper howled mournfully after him and began to chase him down. He didn't want to see the friendly human leave them. What if the Master needed some more help?

He only ran so far that he wouldn't lose his way in the dense forest. He tried to find the horse's scent but it was lost in the wind. He was unable to find hoofprints left embedded in the snow as well. Discouraged, Copper walked alone back to his place to settle in for the night.

"I don't see why you liked him so much anyway," Chief retorted once the young hound came back in. Copper kicked the door shut to keep the wind and snow out before laying in front of the fire. "Seemed a little off to me."

"That's just because you don't like change, is all. Just because he was different doesn't mean there was anything wrong with him."

"Give me a break, half-pint, the Master didn't even like him. It was nice and all for him to help out of course, but he was just a little spooky to me."

Copper didn't want to argue with the older dog, so he just drifted off to sleep and dreamed about the Stranger.

* * *

The next morning, the sound of a horse's whinny woke Copper from his sleep. He lifted his head and shook it to bring himself to full consciousness and again heard the noise. Once he figured out what it was, his ears jumped up and he flew to the window.

"Chief!" he whispered. "Chief, wake up! Take a look at this!"

"You're getting too old for this," the Trigg hound mumbled, vaguely remembering how he used to get woke up every night during Copper's puppyhood.

"But it's the Stranger! He's back! And he looks like he's carrying a bunch of stuff with him!"

Yes, White Buffalo had returned. He had stayed awake all night thinking about the White Man with the dogs and ultimately decided to be hospitable and take him so food. Carrying the bundle of goods in his arms, he managed to open the front door and slam the package on the table. The Master stirred in his sleep and when he opened his eyes, he nearly fell out.

"What are you doing here? I thought you left!" he half-shouted.

"I thought the neighborly thing to do would be to bring some food, since you can not cook it yourself. Face it, you are an invalid."

Copper was so delighted to see the Stranger again, that he literally leaped into his arms. White Buffalo wasn't annoyed in the least, in fact he laughed at the pup's excitement.

"Easy, there, boy!" He took out a strip of beef jerky from the package and tore off a piece. "You like this stuff, I bet," he said, holding a hand out for the hound to take it. Copper nearly inhaled in and smacked his lips with pleasure.

"Hey, Chief, you should try this, it's great!"

"It's probably bad for your heart," the old dog grumbled, although the rumble in his stomach said otherwise. Neither of the hounds had been fed since the night before the pond accident, so they were both starved.

"I brought some extra meats I had, some leftover corn from fall, and a few other vegetables from the garden I had outside," White Buffalo informed the hunter as he emptied the sack. He tossed another piece of jerky towards Copper. "You must be hungry, huh?"

Seeing how much Copper was enjoying himself and getting a full belly, Chief reluctantly rose from the side of the bed and made his way over to where the Stranger was pulling out various food to sit on the table.

"Hello," the Stranger told the second dog. "You look like a good dog as well. What is this one's name?"

Amos wiped his face with his hand in frustration. "That's Chief."

"I like that name, Chief. Reminds me of my own chief I had as a child living with the Cheyenne tribe." He ripped off another piece of jerky. "Here you go."

"See, he's not so bad," Copper said to his friend who was busy chewing the delicacy.

"Why are you doing this?" the Master asked at length. "Do you always go around being the Good Samaritan, or do you just like to annoy people?"

"I see the fire went down a bit since I was here," the Stranger noticed, completely ignoring Amos's questions. He went and stooped over to throw in some more logs into the fireplace, bring the flames back up to a decent height. "My father, Screaming Falcon, told me when I was a boy that I was destined to be a protector of man. My name, White Buffalo, symbolizes a rare being that stands out among the others around him who is to help pick up the fallen."

"White Buffalo, huh?" the Master repeated. "You some kind of loner or something then? I notice you hadn't brought your friends around to sack the place."

"I do not live with a tribe anymore. We were forced to live in a reservation when I was younger, but I ran away and dedicated my life to living on the land."

"Charming."

"Yes, it is rather lovely out here, especially the winter. Although, it is also the deadliest part of the year." Switching the topic of discussion, he asked, "By the way, what might your name be?"

Amos groaned. "If you _must_ know, it's Slade. Amos Slade. And don't you dare think you can come find me and get refuge if you ever decide to get in trouble with the law."

The Stranger chuckled. White Men were so humorous sometimes. "Mr. Slade, I guarantee you, after you are well enough to get up on your feet, you will never see or hear from me again."

"Then you might as well start packing, because I think I can get up here pretty soon."

"Suit yourself. I have to get fix my roof anyway." White Buffalo patted each dog on the head before leaving. "Good-bye, Copper and Chief. Be good dogs while I am gone. Maybe we will cross paths again in the future."

Watching the kind man hop on his horse and take off into the distance, Amos could only shake his head in amazement. "What a crazy, generous guy."

* * *

Will Amos and the dogs ever see the mysterious friendly White Buffalo again? They might, they might not, you'll just have to keep reading to find out!


	11. Hail of a Storm

A/N: So sorry it took so long! It takes me a while to write up a good chapter for this story, since description is everything. Sorry I didn't have time to write review responses, but I appreciated every one of them. Hope ya'll like!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Eleven: Hail of a Storm**

It was a few days before the Master was able to get back on his feet, but when he did he was as good as new. It was almost as if he had never been sick in the first place, which Copper was glad to see. The Stranger had never returned, which made the young hound sad, but he reasoned that perhaps he had other important matters to attend to.

It was late in the afternoon when the wind started picking up speed, the Master having to hang on to his hat and the dogs' ears flapping wildly about. Copper looked up above him to see the trees swaying dangerously back and forth. He hoped one didn't fall on top of him. Chief had told him all kinds of tales of what could go wrong in the forest, and getting squashed by a tree was one of them.

They were several miles from their cabin, returning home after a hard day's work of chasing a few quail and pheasant. They also managed to get a few squirrels and one raccoon early that morning. Copper had tried to chase one of the squirrels down, but he ran out of breath before he could catch it in his jaws. He decided he just wasn't cut out to hunt squirrels, remembering how he had gotten himself lost that time as a puppy because of a squirrel.

He felt a raindrop on his nose, and then a few more came following at increasing speed. It wasn't long before the entire forest was being rained upon. Chief shook his coat, muttering something about how he hated being wet. Copper didn't mind, he considered it as one form of getting a bath. He always liked sitting out in the rain and letting it run over him. Chief always would grumble and get inside some sort of shelter to keep dry.

It wasn't too long before Copper didn't only feel raindrops, but also some sort of hard rock-like substance banging onto him. Intrigued by this phenomenon of raining pebbles, he asked,

"Hey, Chief, how did these rocks get all the way up there in the clouds?"

Chief shook his head before answering. _Half-grown and _still_ asking stupid questions._ "Son, that's _hail_, little balls of ice."

_Ice from the sky?_ Copper thought, glancing upwards wondering how clouds could make such a thing. He would have asked, but by then the hail-stones were really coming down hard. The Master made some sort of comment in an aggravated tone, before calling the dogs over to him.

"We're going to have to wait this one out, boys. Can't risk getting hit by one of them things, if they're big enough."

They were all sitted down under a huge oak tree whose branches seemed sturdy enough to provide a temporary roof. Chief was lying down trying to catch a quick nap before the hail let up. Copper was sticking his nose out to see if he could smell the little ice rocks. He didn't see what the big deal was.

The wind started blowing even faster and the trees bending even farther to their sides. The oak tree seemed to be the only one that didn't do that, of which Copper was thankful. He didn't want to die flatter than a cow chip.

His ears perked up when he saw a coon trying to scramble its way across the forest ground to safety. He didn't know what it was, but something made him want to lunge out and give chase. And that's exactly what he did. Before the Master could grab the pup by the collar, Copper had done bolted out into the wilderness to go after the coon. The sky was getting darker by the minute, which wasn't a good sign at all. Without much hesitation, Chief shook himself awake and ran out after him to try and get him back.

"Copper!" he called over the roaring wind, not able to see much in front of him. "Copper!" The hail was beating down on him and he suddenly wished that he had just stayed where he was. But Copper was a danged fool for running out into this mess and it was up to him to drag him back to safety.

He could barely hear the young hound's howl and had no idea which way it was coming from. At this point, the older dog had traveled about ten yards. He turned around, but was unable to see where he had come from. Now, Chief usually didn't get scared to easily, but he was a little shaken that he might have gotten himself lost. But it didn't matter, Copper was still running around out there somewhere and didn't need to be. He briefly wondered how the pup could stand being out in this weather.

"Copper!" he yelled again, his voice lost over the wind. Lightening flashed in, illuminating the forest briefly. The thunder followed shortly, rumbling and vibrating throughout the trees.

"Copper, dang it, where are you!"

About two seconds after he said that, his foot slipped and went tumbling down a steep hill that he didn't know was there. Since he was unable to see in front of him, he couldn't grab a hold of anything that would hinder his fall. He just kept blindly rolling until he came to a short dropoff and landed rather roughly on his back, banging his head on something and becoming unconscious.

* * *

Copper had raced after the coon as far as he could until he lost him. He then decided maybe it was stupid for him to act on impulse and not stay put where it was safe. He had thought he heard Chief calling for him earlier, although he would have been shocked that the old dog had come out into the storm to find him. 

He started trotting back in the direction he had come from, although he had no recollection of where the oak tree was. He shivered under his fur, not having realized that it was dreadfully cold out there. He shook himself of what water had gathered on him and pressed onwards.

Miraculously he was able to find his way back to the Master without much problem. He came over to the man and started licking his face as if in apology for running away. The Master just laughed and pushed the dog away from him. It was then that Copper noticed Chief's absence.

"Chief!" Amos called for the elder dog. "Come here, boy!"

Copper got extremely worried about his friend. He had apparently gone out to look for him and managed to lose himself out there. He hoped maybe he would come bounding up at any minute, shake his coat, then proceed to fuss at Copper for being an idiot. But it didn't happen.

* * *

As soon as the storm let up about half an hour later, Copper immediately went out to look for Chief. He didn't know what he'd do if that old dog perished while searching for him earlier. He scampered around the woods, which was now littered with broken branches and leaves (not to mention unmelted hail-stones). 

"Chief!" he yelled, hoping maybe the old dog could hear him. "Chief!"

The Master was a few feet behind him doing the same thing he was doing. Amos never would have counted on his older dog getting lost, so he was just as worried as Copper was.

Copper headed over to what looked to be the top of a steep hill and looked down it. He was appalled to see his friend down at the bottom, and he wasn't moving. Horrified, the bloodhound-mix slid down carefully to see if he was all right. He jumped off right before he reached the dropoff and started nudging at Chief to see if he was okay.

"Chief?" he asked in a worried tone. "Chief, are you awake? Chief?"

He didn't get a response, which scared him to death. He held his head up and howled for the Master to come down and help. He heard the man coming down and headed over towards them. He looked just as concerned as his dog, as he carefully picked Chief up off the ground and cradled him in his arms like some sort of child.

Copper whined, feeling guilty for what had happened. The Master wordlessly passed in front of the dog and carried on towards the cabin. Copper sighed and followed a few feet behind, tail tucked between his legs.

* * *

Oh no, is Chief going to be all right? Will Copper yet again have to seek help? Find out next time, whenever that's going to be! 


	12. Bright Star

1A/N: I would leave responses for the reviews, but I can't since there is a new rule about that. Anyways, glad you all like, and hope you enjoy this latest edition! Hint: new characters galore!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Twelve:** **Bright Star**

Chief wasn't doing too well. He was drifting in and out of sleep, and when he was awake he would have a nasty cough due from inhaling so much moisture after his fall. He was presently wrapped in a blanket in front of the fireplace to help warm him up. Copper was on the other end of the room, feeling completely responsible.

In his opinion, he was a jinx to the entire group. He had unwittingly caused the Master to fall into the ice and now this with Chief. He had thought about running away and living in the wild like the Stranger did, but that wouldn't be mature of him to run from his problems. No, he was going to have to fix this, just like last time.

If he could find someone to help the Master, maybe he could find someone to help Chief out. It was a long shot, but he would have to try. As soon as the Master went to bed and was deeply asleep, Copper crept to the front door and nosed it open. It was freezing outside, but he didn't care. Once outside he pushed the door back shut to keep the cold out. Looking out into the dark eerie forest, he took a breath and stumbled out into the snow. He could no longer see the hail-stones, for the snow had covered them with a fresh sheet, yet he could feel their rough surface under his paws.

Copper looked up at the night sky, all the stars shining in radiance. He remembered when he was a puppy the night that Chief told him what a "shooting star" was. He also recalled him telling him of a "Dog Star"–the brightest star in the sky. What was it Chief had said about that star? Let it guide you to your destination? Copper wasn't quite sure what the precise words were, but they were something to that effect.

The pup decided no harm would come from taking some of his mentor's words to good use, so he kept his eyes on Sirius and "followed" it. A few times passed where he couldn't see the star, but it would pop back up again soon enough.

It wasn't too long before Copper heard a low howl from in front of him. He stood still where he was, seeing if he could hear it again. He did, only this time there was more than one. A chorus bringing the night to life. Mesmerized, Copper followed the wolves' music. It was only a matter of minutes that he stumbled upon the pack, gathered around each other calling into the night.

They were so majestic, it was a wonder that he had been so terrified of them as a puppy.

He stood there watching them for several minutes as they continued their eerie, yet beautiful singing. He heard footsteps behind him, and he tensed up. A growl was heard, a malicious one, and Copper was too terrified to turn around and face whatever creature it was.

"March forward," a voice, deep and raspy, commanded. "Go!"

Copper was not about to argue with a wolf, which is what he decided was giving him orders. He moved forward as he was told out into the opening where the other wolves had stopped their vocalizing and stared at him, their yellow eyes serving as beacons in the night air.

"I caught this infidel spying from those bushes," the deep, raspy voice said from behind the trembling hound. "What were you planning on doing, dog? Telling your friends where we are congregating and chase after us, slaughtering our cubs?"

"Enough, Quicksilver, I'll handle this." A dark wolf, almost black, approached Copper and the wolf who he guessed was Quicksilver. The wolf coming towards him was a huge alpha male, his face sinister and had this air about him that said that he had killed before and would do so again. "What is your business here?"

Copper was shaking under his fur. He was unsure how to address such a dignified person. "I-I, I was j-just looking for h-help. M-my friend got sick and might d-die."

The black wolf lowered his eyes at the pup at first, and looked as if he was about to turn him away when another voice from the back. "Dark Cloud, if you so much as harm that little one, I'll disclaim you from the family."

"Mother, stay out of this," the black wolf, Dark Cloud, growled when he heard the elderly female's voice. "I lead the pack now, you have no say in what I do."

"True, but your father would have never turned away one asking for help," the female replied, whom Copper could see now as a beautiful white wolf, fur grizzled with the lightest silver. She seemed gentle and kind, a shock that her son appeared the opposite. Dark Cloud growled slightly but listened to his mother and allowed her to speak with the pup.

"Now, little one," the female began in a voice light as feathers. "What is the nature of your trouble?"

"My, my friend got real bad sick during the storm today, and he's coughing a lot and I don't think he's going to make it. I was just trying to find someone to help, I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"That's quite all right, little one. We're not going to harm you. Come with me and we'll discuss the matter."

Copper was shocked that this wolf was so friendly. He had been under the impression that all wolves were evil, since that's what Chief had implied once. But this wolf, she seemed so warm and caring, not at all evil. She led the pup away from the rest of the pack, leading him down a path daintly covered in moon-crested snow.

"What is your name, little one?"

"Copper."

"Good name, strong. It matches your coat. Yes, I know it is dark out, but we wolves are accustomed to seeing at night. I am called Bright Star, in reference to our star Sirius that guides the lonely traveler at night."

"Are all those others back there your kids?"

"Heavens, no! The only one of my cubs still remaining in the pack would be my son, Dark Cloud, who was the black wolf you were talking to earlier. Quicksilver, the one that brought you in, is Dark Cloud's son and my grandson, the most swift-footed of the pack. My mate, Pale Moon, was the alpha male until his death a year ago which is when Dark Cloud stepped in. He is pretty good at leading, but he can be rough at times. But enough about me, you were saying that you had a friend in trouble?"

"Yes, my friend . . . well, really my mentor, but I think of him as a father, too. We were out hunting today when the big storm hit, and he went out to search for me but fell and hit his head. Now he's coughing real bad and shaking and stuff. I felt guilty about it, so I decided to try and find some help."

"You did right, young Copper. Wolves are very hospitable when they put their minds to it. I happen to be a healer, in case you were wondering."

Copper became encouraged when he heard this. "A healer? Wow, does that mean you can help?"

"Patience, my boy, it is late and much too cold to be engaging in travel. Come with me and you can spend the night with us until dawn. Then we can go visit your friend and see what we can do."

The wolves (ten in all) stared and watched Copper as he sat with them during their meeting. They were not used to one outside the species being among them as a guest. Dark Cloud, wanting nothing to do with outsiders, acted as if the hound did not exist. Quicksilver stared tauntingly, as if daring him to fight him. The others just looked at him in curiosity.

There were five cubs in the pack, three males and two females, all of them tumbling about in the snow around the circle of adults. Copper would grin slightly when he would hear one of them complaining about the other cheating. He wished he was able to recall playing with his own siblings, whom he was taken away from before he was even able to talk.

"Bright Star, mother, you cannot be serious in thinking of going to a man's dwelling and helping a _dog_," Dark Cloud began on a personal note.

"Son, I cannot refuse an offer of help. It is my nature."

"But assisting those who rampage against us? It doesn't feel right."

A gray wolf with brown mixed into his fur responded, "What if the man catches you and pulls out his shiny death-maker and sends you to the heavens? No, if you're going to go, you cannot go alone. One of us would have to go with you."

"Silence, Calm Waters," Dark Cloud growled at the speaking wolf. "She isn't going, and that is that. If she did go and heal this ailing hound, he would only turn against her and it would be her end, and possibly ours, too."

Copper felt uncomfortable hearing the black wolf say such things about Chief, although he knew that the old hound would probably give up anything to hunt the closest fair game around. A female sitting beside him, Singing Bird, whispered to him,

"Dark Cloud always refuses to let Bright Star do anything. But she always finds a way to sway his mind, since she is his mother and has a certain maternal power over him. Watch. In about five minutes, she'll have permission to go."

"Son," Bright Star addressed Dark Cloud. "I have spoken to young Copper here, and I believe he is the good sort of dog. Not at all like those dastardly hounds that came by here a few months ago terrorizing all the forest inhabitants. If we help this young one out, I believe that they might be able to help us in getting rid of that murderous pack and protect what's left of our forest."

"Those hounds are on the other side of the woods now. There are other wolf packs already there that can deal with it."

"Shame on you, Dark Cloud," Calm Waters spoke up once again. "Turning away someone who came to us for help and not even willing to assist those of your own kind!"

At this accusation, Dark Cloud turned on poor Calm Waters, who was luckily able to escape the black wolf's jaws. Copper jumped slightly at this, afraid that the other wolf would get severely punished to speaking up against his superior . . . and that _he_ would be next! But Bright Star reprimanded both of them.

"Stop it this instant. Acting like the heathens that many think we are. We have to band together and help one another if we're going to get any business done. I say if we help this pup out, he'll help us in return. Maybe we can join up with the other packs and defeat those terrible hounds that are devastating the forest." She glanced over at Calm Waters, who was trembling from his close encounter with Dark Cloud. "Calm Waters can come with me to the man's dwelling. I don't want to hear another word about this."

And with that, the magestic Bright Star had her say and left the circle to bed for the night, many of the others following her example. At dawn, she would be leaving with Calm Waters and Copper.

Wow, we finally get to meet the wolves! They're not so bad, except maybe Dark Cloud, but you'll find out why he's so grouchy later on. Will the mysterious Bright Star be able to help Chief? Find out whenever I get around to updating next time!


	13. Healing

**A/N: **I know, two chapters in one month! That's arecord for me this year, especially with THIS story!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Thirteen: Healing**

That next morning before dawn, the hound and two wolves began their journey to the cabin in efforts to save Chief's life. Copper was in the lead since he knew the way, Bright Star was after him, and Calm Waters brought up the rear. He was feeling skittish after his close encounter with Dark Cloud yesterday, so he was glad to be going with Bright Star.

"Tell me, young Copper," Bright Star said in order to break the unnerving silence. "What is your friend's name?"

"I didn't tell you? Sorry," the pup said sheepishly. "His name's Chief."

Her ears perked up at the name, as if she'd heard it before, but she didn't say anything about it.

At long last, they arrived at the cabin, still before the sunrise. Copper turned towards Bright Star and sighed.

"So, how are we going to do this? I mean, he's in the house, and there's no way that you two are going to be able to just sneak in without waking the Master up."

"No need to worry, we wolves are light on our feet. Your Master will not hear a thing." She motioned to Calm Waters to come closer to her. "You stand guard out here. If I need anything, I will call."

Calm Waters wasn't sure if it was safe for Bright Star to go inside alone, but he trusted her, and nodded before sitting down in the snow. The white wolf nodded her own head towards Copper who made his way to the door. He started trying to nose and claw the door open, since it opened from the outside, and finally got it done. He hoped the Master wouldn't feel the sudden cold breeze and wake up.

The hound and she-wolf entered the cabin, which would have been pitch black if not for the blazing fire that was set, giving the room an eerie red-orange glow. Chief was still lying there asleep in front of the fireplace wrapped in a blanket to help reduce his fever. Almost as soon as Bright Star saw the older dog, she tensed up and didn't move for a few seconds and just _looked_ at him, as if she'd seen him before, but again she didn't say anything about it.

"How long as he been like this?" she asked Copper, who was standing by her right side.

"Since yesterday afternoon, after that storm," he answered. He looked over worriedly at him. "Do you think you can help him?"

"It is uncertain at this point. I shall not be needing any herbs, that much I know. Stand back, I need breathing space."

Copper backed off away from her as she made her way to Chief's side and sat down. She was still for a minute then she lifted her right paw and swept it through the air slowly over him. Same thing with the left paw. She closed her eyes and muttered a few words foreign to Copper's ears, then repeated the right paw-left paw procedure again. The whole time her tail was swishing back in forth in an arc shape. A few more strange words exited her mouth, this time at a faster rate, and her tail began to speed up its swishing.

A deep sigh escaped from her throat, seemingly from exhaustion considering that the process is actually rather energy-demanding. Copper was in awe of this strange healing ritual. He wondered if he had worked, when he saw his friend move a little bit. Then he even rolled over, the most he'd done since he was brought home yesterday afternoon.

Copper breathed a sigh of relief, taking that as a sign that Chief was going to be all right. Bright Star gave the old dog a little smile before giving him a quick lick goodbye on the ear. She stood up and headed for the door.

"He should be fine now," she said in a tired voice. "My work here is done. Come outside with me to talk."

Copper did as he was told, and sat outside on the porch with Bright Star and Calm Waters, who was looking anxious to get home and glad that Bright Star was safe. The white she-wolf blinked a few times before saying,

"Now, young Copper, since I have helped you and your friend, I am going to have to ask you to do our pack a favor in return. You heard us talking yesterday of a terrible group of hounds that have been devastating our forest. Dark Cloud will not cooperate and unite the different tribes together, so we are going to have to act on our own. We need all the help we can get, and we are going to be counting on you to help us fight against these hounds when the time comes. You have no choice in the matter, the pack has already decided that earlier this morning while you were still sleeping."

Copper shrugged. "Sure, I'll help. Uh, is this one of those things I need to keep to myself, or should I tell someone?"

She chuckled. "If you are talking of dragging your friend into this, by all means do so. He might have fun getting into a few scraps. But for now, keep to yourself. When the time comes, then it will all come out. Farewell, young Copper."

With that, she turned heel and flew into the forest, Calm Waters right behind her. Copper waved goodbye, although neither could see it. He already missed their presence, having gotten used to their gentleness. He hoped to see them again soon. But for now, he would just have to continue his training and be patient.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

"There was a girl in here, wasn't there?"

Copper stared at Chief, surprised that he was talking so soon after the accident. The old dog was still by the fire, only now he was lying on top of the blanket and not in it. Copper was eating breakfast from a plate on the floor.

He gulped down his mouthful of food before he answered. "What are you babbling about, old-timer? Ain't no girl been in here."

"You can't fool me, there was a girl in here, I know there was."

"Chief, you're crazy."

"Maybe, but that doesn't deny the fact that some female was running around in here."

"Oh, come on, what is the big deal? I haven't even met a girl before, how am I going to bring one home?" In reality, the first girl that he had ever met after his mother was Bright Star, so he wasn't really lying.

"You'd know one if you saw her. Wicked things. Stay away from them, they ain't nothing but trouble."

Copper was a little surprised to hear that. Bright Star didn't seem bothersome at all. "Where'd you get a crazy idea like that?" he asked before taking another bite of food.

Chief had a knowing look in his eyes. "Trust me, Copper. Girls are bad news. They act like they like ya, mess around with your head, have them wrapped around their paw, and then before you know it, WHAM! You get your nose in the dirt, a bruised eye, and all because she found herself some other fella to spend the rest of her life with. Believe me, you don't want to get involved with a female."

He didn't say anything else after that, just rested his head on his paws and looked out the window that was above him, as if he were remembering something. Copper could only tilt his head in confusion.

* * *

**Other Side of the Forest**

"Wake up, you worthless mongrels, we have a busy day ahead of us," an English-accented voice roared over the still, silent morning. "Smitty, Harry, Dunner, all of you!"

The other hounds grumbled as they were rudely interrupted from their peaceful sleeping. They were tired of working late and getting up early. It seemed they never had time for rest. It was always "hunt, hunt, hunt" with this Nero character.

"Mr. Nero, sir," Smitty, the youngest of the pack hounds, yawned. "I think the boys need a day off. We've all been working so hard, and there's hardly any animals left to find. I think you've caught them all, or else they've run away where's it's safer."

"Then we'll have to follow them and get them as well!" Nero growled. "All will live in fear while I'm around!"

"But sir, the ecosystem will be devastated if we continue this any longer," Smitty protested.

Nero raised a paw and slapped the pup in the head, leaving a few blood trails along his face. Smitty yelped in pain, covering his face with one of his legs and backing away from his superior. Nero glared at the other hounds, which were stunned to silence.

"Listen here, you sniveling wimps! The Master is very pleased with what a good job we're doing. But it could be better! We're not going to stop until we have every last forest animal's hide in the back of our truck. We'll be the world's best hunters if we succeed. And I'll be the best of the best, since I'm the one heading this operation. If you all want to do poorly and let your Master down, I'm sure the pound will put you in your place real quick."

The others murmured amongst one another. None of them wanted to go to the pound. All of them were weary from the excessive hunting they had been doing since a few months back. But, alas, there was nothing to be done. Nero's way or bar none.

* * *

See, I TOLD ya'll that Nero would be back. . . (laughs evilly) 


	14. Grown Up

**A/N: **I noticed that I had screwed up the chapter title numbers by accidentally typing that chapter eleven was chapter twelve instead, so I had to go back and fix things, but everything is okay now!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Fourteen: Grown Up**

Another month had come and gone, bringing with it triumph and sorrow. None of the souls encountered throughout this journey in young Copper's life could have been prepared for what lay ahead in the future. But for now, let us focus on the present, and take things one day at a time.

Copper had grown considerably large come January. He had lost the remains of his puppyhood and gained bulk in muscle, knowledge of the outside world, and respect for all of nature. No more was the goofy adolescent. Copper was grown up.

The bloodhound-mix had developed his nose in an expertise fashion. He had learned to be deathly quiet while on the move, wait for the key moment of attack, and distinguish what was legal and illegal to hunt. For example, mountain lions are illegal to hunt, no matter how pesky. Copper was only glad that he hadn't had to encounter one of those yet.

Chief wasn't sure if he liked Copper being so big. After all, he still thought of him as the tiny, trembling ball of wrinkles that had been tossed in front of him that day at the house. And now he was a full-grown one-hundred-and-fifty pound territorial male. Chief realized very quickly that he did not at all like someone younger than him being _larger_ than him. It was true. Copper was two inches taller than the Trigg hound and had at least a thirty-five pound advantage over him.

He really got annoyed whenever Copper wanted to "play". Even though he was a large dog, he was pretty rambunctious. When he at first discovered that he was closer to Chief's size than before, he immediately became interested in the game that Chief called _scufflin'_. This was basically where one dog would jump on the other dog and then both of them would start rolling around biting on each other to try and win dominance. Most humans call this activity _wrestling_, and Chief found that he hated it when Copper went first because the older dog would usually get slammed on the bottom in five seconds flat. It was embarrassing having some crazy over-grown kid practically sitting on you.

* * *

It was in the middle of the day when they were coming towards a snow-crested hill that led towards a small field near the woods that the trio was going through that day. Copper had made it to the top first since he thought he had to run up it. He took a good look at the territory before pressing his nose near the surface of the snow and searching for any kind of scent.

He made his way half-way downhill when Chief appeared. They hadn't had any luck so far in finding any game, and he was getting tired of wasting his precious time. He had gotten to where on some days he would rather stay at home and sleep all day rather than go out and do something productive. The only thing that motivated him to go out every morning was the fear that he was getting too old to be useful and the Master would put him out if he didn't do his job. That and Copper bouncing up and down every blasted morning begging him to hurry and wake up.

Copper lifted his head and looked towards his right before making his way in that direction, his nose on the ground in front of him as usual. Chief watched him for a split second before scrunching his nose up. _That pup and his nose_._ Bah_.

While the younger dog went in the direction that he thought he had the scent of something while Chief kept going straight ahead. It wasn't too long that Copper stopped abruptly and realized that he had definitely picked up something. He looked up and saw a bush directly in front of him.

Excitement shot through him as he lifted his head and belted out a melodious howl. Chief immediately turned around in shock that the pup had actually found something without his help.

Pheasants shot out of the bush as soon as they heard the hound's call. The Master quickly lifted up his gun, aimed, and fired. When the smoke cleared, the Master walked over to the successful hound and rubbed his head in approval before walking forward to collect the fallen birds. Copper had never felt so proud. He had finally done it! He had tracked down and triumphantly found his first prey, and without any help at all.

Chief was still in a daze. He had never actually expected Copper to do it. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in the pup, he just never thought that he would get his first kill so soon. He had figured that maybe next year it would happen. But no, it happened today, and it was a bunch of stupid pheasants. Birds were some of the harder animals to track, and he was shocked that Copper managed to sniff them out.

Copper gave the old hound a sloppy grin, tongue hanging out all the while, then trotted off to the Master as he picked up the carcasses. When he reached the elderly man, he received all sorts of pats and rubs and little words of congratulations and love. Seeing this show made Chief suddenly jealous. How dare that little runt steal away the attention of the Master! Did he think that just because of one successful hunt that he was going to suddenly be the favorite?

A feeling overcame the old dog that he hadn't felt in a long time. He had never had cause to be jealous of Copper until now. He was now a possible threat to Chief's comfortable life. What if the Master _did _decide that he liked Copper best, considering he was larger and by far younger. He could very well get thrown out in the streets in the nearby town, forced to find his own food and shelter. If Copper proved himself to be a better hunter than Chief was, he definitely was going to have to start thinking about what might happen to him in the future.

Copper bounded back up to his friend and mentor, shivering with excitement that he had done something right for once.

"Did ya see, Chief? I tracked down them birds and I found them! The Master's so proud of me, can you believe it, Chief? Are you proud of me, huh huh huh?"

Chief didn't want to rain on his parade, seeing how happy he was. So he just smiled and said, "Yeah, I saw it. Good job, sonny."

"Wow, you really think it was a good job? Thanks, Chief!" He gave the old dog a slobberly lick on the side of his face before trotting off again to the Master. Chief grimaced at the nasty, sticky stuff that was now on him and proceeded to try and wipe it off with one of his paws. He hoped Copper wouldn't get too self-confident and drive him insane the next few days.

* * *

Uh-oh, somebody's jealous . . . 


	15. Proving a Point

**A/N: **Okay, sorry the last chappie (and this chappie) are so short, but I've been super busy with school lately! And I'll go ahead and apologize, the first part of this chapter is a little corny, but I couldn't think of anything to fill in the gap that was there. The second part is okay, but to me it's still kinda "iffy". Okay, I'll leave ya'll alone now so you can read! Please review, I LOVE reviews!

* * *

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Fifteen: Proving a Point**

It wasn't too long before Chief's fears became realities. Ever since Copper found those pheasants, he had become cocky. He probably didn't mean to be, but he was acting like king of the hill every second of the day. Whenever he walked now, it was like he was trying to look tough and majestic. He even carried his tail like a flag!

Knowing Chief, it didn't take much of this to send him on the point of almost wanting to punch some sense into that boy. Of course he couldn't just do that, he would get all kinds of scolding from the Master, and the whole point was to keep his home.

One week after the pheasant shooting, Copper was running about doing his sniffing ritual. He had decided that he was going to be in the front at all times now, for some reason. It got on Chief's nerves. _He_ always lead the party on the hunt.

The older dog was trailing along behind looking for little things that Copper may have missed along the way, when he noticed a hollow log not too far from the path. He recognized the scent that was reeking from it and got a sneaky grin on his face. Time to put that pup in his place.

"Pssst, Copper!" he whispered real softly. Copper jerked his head up at him and trotted over there.

"What is it?" he whispered back.

"Might want to check that log over there. Just stick your nose in and bark."

Copper didn't get that he was being set up, so he grinned and went off towards the log. Chief was trying hard not to laugh before he got over there so he wouldn't suspect anything. The young hound sniffed around the log, and not recognizing the scent, he did just what Chief told him to do—stick his nose in and bark.

What happened next was either hilarious or pitiful. As soon as Copper uttered a noise, the most horrible smell imaginable entered his nostrils and eyes, almost burning them and gagging him. He backed off quickly with a yelp and ran back up the hill almost blind. Chief was cracking up the whole time. He knew that Copper wouldn't have known what a skunk was.

Copper was coughing his head off, his eyes watering. "Wh-what was that?"

"A skunk!" Chief chuckled. He backed off a little ways from Copper. "Wooooh, you might want to take a bath there, sonny."

"What the heck did you make me do that?" the young hound asked, wiping his eyes with a paw.

"I didn't make you do anything. You willingly galloped down there and did something stupid on your own."

"I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't said anything."

"Next time, you'll know never to bark at something you can't see or recognize the smell of. Just a lesson to you."

"But . . . what on earth was the point?"

"To get you to stop being so danged cocky and prancing around like some stuck-up show dog. The forest isn't a stage, it's a workplace."

"What do you mean, cocky?" Copper demanded. "And why are you picking on me? What about you, you've been acting all grumpy and sullen lately. What have I ever done to you?"

The hair on the back of Chief's neck raised. "Don't you get an attitude with me, you—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, for at that moment the Master had decided to show up and see what the ruckus was about. He was about three steps from Copper when he understood what had happened.

"Whoa, Copper! You found yourself a skunk, I see!" he chuckled. "That's all right, it happens to the best of us. Can't do anything else with you smelling like that. Come on, let's go back and see if we can get that washed off of you."

Copper shot Chief a look that said, "Thanks a lot" in a sarcastic sort of way before following the Master with his tail tucked between his legs.

* * *

**Meanwhile . . . **

Nero's eyes scanned the forest wasteland. Not even a bird could be heard by any of the hounds. They had hoped that their Master would realize that not another animal could be found in this part of the forest, but they were wrong. He was just too lazy to move from that one spot.

Dunner, one of the older of the hounds, suggested to the others that one of them try and calmly persuade Nero to back off and understand that there just wasn't anything left. None of them seemed to have the guts to do it. Smitty was already scared to death of the English hound, afraid that next time he upset him that he would get his neck ripped open.

So it was decided that all of them would approach Nero, seeing that no one was bold enough to do it alone. Nero was still sitting at the edge of the trees looking out into the emptiness, as if waiting for a sign of life to appear.

Dunner was about to open his mouth to address Nero, when they were all stunned by his sudden outburst of energy. He seemed to gallop madly across the acres towards something. None of the others had the guts to follow him.

Nero's eyes had found one lone rabbit, perhaps the only true living thing left in the entire forest. Upon seeing the mad hound, the small animal fled for its life through the bushes. But Nero was not to be stopped. He was determined to kill this creature and prove that there was still life left in the forest that needed to be wiped out.

The rabbit was about to reach the safety of its burrow when it felt sharp teeth and hot breath on the back of its neck. Nero's jaws clamped around the rabbit's neck and snapped it in half by slinging it around in a semi-circle in the air. Feeling warm blood in his mouth sent Nero on some sort of a high, thrilled with his fresh kill.

The other dogs stood around and watched the English hound carefully as he approached them from the distance. They all felt a shiver of excitement when they saw the dead rabbit, yet at the same time disgust that he would have the nerve to slaughter one more game animal.

The crazed hound had blood dripping from his bottom jaw and was going down his neck. Smitty wasn't able to hold his lunch, what little there was of it, from the gruesome sight. Harry, a hound only six months younger than Nero, gave a disapproving look while the others merely stared in shock.

Nero tossed the rabbit on the ground in front of the others. He had a sinister grin slapped across his face. "Now, who believes me when I say that there _is_ game out there? When the Master sees this, he'll become motivated to go out again, so get prepared to go on a little spree."


	16. A Call to War

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Sixteen: A Call to War **

The decomposing carcass of the rabbit had long since attracted flies to the area, all of them buzzing with joy at the horrible odor reeking from the body. The wolves of that part of the forest were gathered around the rabbit and looking upon it in disgust and worry. Their leader was called One Eye, for as a cub he upset a very territorial badger that made good use of his claws and ripped the cub's left eye out. One Eye was very upset over this latest evidence of the hound pack's crusade throughout the forest.

"Friends, I say enough is enough. If we let this continue any farther, there will not be a soul left in this forest, and we will have to retreat to other territories to find food and shelter. The only way to keep this forest safe is to engage battle with the enemy."

The other wolves trembled at the notion. They were not afraid of dogs in general, but of their leader whom they understood to be known as Nero. But One Eye was not going to let some mere hound destroy his land . . . not while he was in charge.

"Of course we can not do it alone. We shall have to ask Dark Cloud's pack for allegiance in this matter."

"Dark Cloud will never agree to a war!" a younger warrior by name of Night Sky (for he was color of sky after the sun went down) retorted. "He wants nothing to do with us."

"When he understands that there is no other way to keep the wolves and the remaining forest dwellers safe, he will have no choice but to fight!" One Eye insisted, slightly showing his fangs at the youth in annoyance. "I shall go to him myself. He cannot refuse a plea of help from a fellow wolf. It is against moral and ethic."

* * *

**Dark Cloud's Territory**

And thus One Eye traveled across the forest to that part which is under Dark Cloud's rule. With him he brought two of his best warriors: Howling Fury, who was by far the most aggressive, and Dancing Flames, whose nimble feet allowed him to escape most four-footed foes.

The three entered the desolate land that belonged to Dark Cloud, and were escorted by Quicksilver to have a meeting with him. A conference was held there in regards of doing away with the terrible hounds that were committing crimes against the Animal Kingdom.

"These acts must be stopped immediately!" One Eye fumed, desperate to get Dark Cloud to understand the severity of the situation. "Can you not see how quickly the life in these woods is dwindling?"

"The only signs of extinction that I come to see are in _your _side of the forest, One Eye," Dark Cloud responded. "We have not been decimated by the hounds, unlike yourself."

"But they will not stop until they have killed all that resides here! Sooner or later, any remaining life will be gone. And I assure you that they will not stop when all that is left are the wolves. If the time ever comes that we are all that remain, we will be forced to leave this forest and flee to the mountains in search for passages to another land."

"Stop talking nonsense," Dark Cloud growled. "Your imagination is growing too wild for your own good. The hounds will leave in due time, so stop worrying and go home."

In an absolutely rage at Dark Cloud's stubbornness, One Eye leapt upon the black wolf and the two of them engaged in a personal battle against each other. The others around them snarled and yelped and gave voice to cheer their respective leaders on . . . until they all heard,

"_SILENCE!"_

Everyone looked up to see a white wolf grizzled in silver glaring at them all with piercing eyes. Bright Star descended the hill from which she came to approach the others.

"Look at yourselves! Here we are being threatened by an outside force and here you all are trying to kill each other. Have we not suffered enough without having to add to it from our own brethren?" She glared at her son rather coldly. "Dark Cloud, you are acting like a child. One Eye has come to ask for help and you refuse it. That is against our code that bonds us together. If we don't have each other to turn to for help, we have nothing."

"Mother, stay out of this. I will not tolerate you making me look like a fool in front my pack."

"It is you that is making yourself look foolish. I suggest you offer One Eye his request for help. One day we might need him to help us." She ceased talking with him and turned her head towards Calm Waters and moved her head in a motion that called him over to her. She bent her head down and whispered something in his ear and he took off running through the trees.

"What was that all about?" Dark Cloud demanded.

"I am simply asking for the presence of an old friend that owes me a favor."

* * *

**Amos Slade's Cabin**

Copper was trying to fall asleep by the fire. He had been having a hard time understanding Chief lately. It seemed like the older dog didn't want him around anymore. For the past two weeks he had been acting like he wanted to be left alone and not bothered. In fact, every time Copper approached him, he seemed annoyed. He had no clue as to where the problem resided. Every time Copper made another successful find, his attitude got worse and worse. It came to point that he wouldn't even speak a word to Copper at times except the occasional, "come on" or "move it".

One day after Copper had managed to sniff out a rabbit den, he caught the older dog giving a look of deep downheartedness in the direction of some pine cone laying on the ground. Being the kind of dog he is, Copper went and asked him what the matter was and all he got as a reply was a growl and a low voiced, "None of your danged business."

Copper's thoughts were interrupted by a scratching at the door. His fur on end, the young hound carefully made his way towards the door, ready to either flee in terror or attack. He nosed the door open a little ways and was spooked at the sight of Calm Waters standing on his porch panting as if he had been running for quite some time.

"Calm Waters?" he whispered. "What are you doing here? Where's Bright Star?"

"She wishes to see you," the young wolf replied. "I came as fast as I could."

"See me? What for? Is something wrong?"

"Just follow me."

Calm Waters jumped from the porch onto the ground, which was no longer covered in snow except for a few patches here and there. Copper slipped out and went to shut the door behind him with his nose but a strong wind came and slammed it shut, resulting in a loud BANG! The hound winced a little at the noise, hoping nobody woke up from it, then turned and ran after Calm Waters to meet with Bright Star.

* * *

Unfortunately, the sound _did_ wake up someone, and they didn't seem very happy to be disturbed from their slumber. Chief's eyes fluttered open and glanced around in confusion, wondering where that noise had come from. He yawned and stretched his limbs out to help him be more alert to what was going on. He didn't notice anything unusual about the room . . . wait. Copper was gone. _Sigh, that crazy pup._

Chief reluctantly eased himself up off the floor to see if maybe Copper had just decided to sleep elsewhere for the night. Nope, no doubt about it, Copper was no where in that cabin. The Trigg hound went to the door and pushed it open with a paw to look around out there. Still no Copper. He went out and shut the door behind him with his nose. He sniffed the air a little to find out if Copper had recently been outside.

Yes, he had been out here, not too long ago either. Hold on, there's another smell mixed in with it. Oddly familiar scent, what was that? His fur bristled when he recognized it. _Wolf!_ A wolf had been here and they must have somehow kidnaped Copper!

Chief was shocked at himself for getting worried about someone that he was mad at. For a brief moment, he was actually glad that Copper was gone because then he would be the Master's favorite again! He thought about life B.C. (Before Copper). He thought about how nice it was to have just him and the Master going on hunts, just him getting the treats and rewards. But then he thought about how lonely it would get on those long nights outside when he didn't have anyone to talk to. Or anyone to watch grow up, no matter how aggravating they became as adults. No, he may have been upset with Copper for stealing the spotlight, but he wasn't going to let some blood-thirsty wolves have their way with him. Nobody deserved that.

* * *

Hm, so will the wolves finally do something about Nero? Will Copper help them out? Poor Chief, he has no idea that the wolves are Copper's friends, what a shock he's going to get! 


	17. Battle Plan

**A/N: **Boo-hoo, I only got 2 reviews for the last chapter. Whatever, here's chappie seventeen!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Seventeen: Battle Plan **

Calm Waters at last led Copper to where the remaining wolves were waiting. Upon seeing the tri-colored hound, One Eye and his two warriors stepped back and growled menacingly, believing him to be one of Nero's followers. Dark Cloud didn't look to happy to see him either, nor did Quicksilver. Bright Star smiled warmly and went to greet him.

"Hello, young Copper. My, you have certainly grown this past month. How are things with you? Is your friend doing all right?"

"Yes, he's fine, we're all fine. Thanks. Um, what's this all about?"

"That is precisely what I would like to know!" One Eye demanded. "What are you trying to do, Bright Star? Do you not know that he is one of _them_?"

"Copper is not of the same pack that we are discussing. He happens to be a friend of mine." She turned towards Copper once again. "Dear, remember when you and I talked about the hounds that were terrorizing our forest? Good. It turns out that they are doing more damage, and I need you to help us."

"How can a _dog_ aid us? It is _dogs_ that are causing the problem!" Howling Fury, one of One Eye's "boys", growled in his gruff voice.

"Peace, peace! Not all dogs are evil. I have known a few decent ones in my time, and they tend to leave wolves alone anyways. It is only this certain group of dogs that we are having a problem with," Bright Star explained.

One Eye began to bicker with Dark Cloud once more about Copper's presence, and then they both began arguing with Bright Star. A few wolves that sided with Bright Star came to her defense and they were all arguing with each other at once. Copper stood at the side being rather confused. Calm Waters was beside him, for he usually preferred to stay out of heated arguments.

"Err, Copper?" he started. "Do you think everything is going to be all right for us? I mean, do you believe that the forest will be safe for us in the future? I worry about it constantly, about not having any food, not seeing the baby animals running about, not hearing the happy chirping of the birds . . ."

"It's going to be all right," Copper assured him, although he wasn't sure himself. "I'm positive that Nero will leave once he realizes he's lost."

"I hope so," Calm Waters fidgeted. He glanced about him nervously. "I would not normally tell anyone this, but . . . I have been having these bad dreams lately. Real bad dreams. Where I am being chased by this monster of some sort, and I fall into a hole, and I can no longer move . . . and everything gets dark and then I wake up. I have had that same dream now for nearly a month. It scares me to death."

Copper shuddered just thinking about it. "Yeah, I can imagine."

"ENOUGH!" Dark Cloud shouted to make everyone to fighting with each other. "Quiet down, all of you. Listen, Mother, I have no idea what you are thinking in inviting a hound here, but—"

"If you would only let me explain, maybe I could get a word in," Bright Star interrupted. "I was only suggesting that since Copper is a dog, he would be able to get close enough to the enemy to find out exactly where they are located. If they catch his scent, they would think nothing of it for they might believe it belongs to one of their own. If a wolf goes out and does the same thing, they would notice right away and catch us off guard."

"Wait, you want me to do WHAT?" Copper asked in shock.

"An ambush attack?" One Eye said to himself, thinking about Bright Star's plan. "Not a bad idea, if I do say so myself."

Dark Cloud stared at the other wolf. "I thought you were against this bringing a dog into our party!"

"But her plan seems to make so much sense. Get the dog to scope out the enemy, then have him report back to us, we arrange our troops around the area, then attack! They'll never see it coming!"

Dark Cloud looked at One Eye, then at Bright Star, and then at Copper. He sighed, realizing that there was no way around this, and said, "Fine, have things your way. Dog, prepare to leave at dawn. The hounds should still be asleep. We'll prepare our warriors to attack at sunrise."

The other wolves began to talk amongst themselves, growing excited at the idea of a surprise attack. Copper was unsure about this, since he was the one who supposedly had to sneak up on the enemy _alone_ and gather much needed information. It seemed dangerous for a young pup, but he would do it if he must.

**SORRY SO SHORT! The next chapter will be extra long, I promise!**


	18. A History of Romance

**A/N:** This might be the last chapter for a while, since me and my roommate just purchased an apartment and we'll be busy with studies and getting jobs and paying rent and stuff. Please be patient! I'm rather proud of this chapter, so please review when you're done!

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Eighteen: A History of Romance**

It was midnight in the forest. Moonlight rained down on the thick trees and landed in puddles on the ground. Chief was having a terribly difficult time in locating Copper, for he had lost the trail several times and with it so dark, he could not see the prints. Maybe he really was losing the touch. Maybe he wasn't as good as hunter as he used to be. Maybe Copper really was better than him.

He sat down on his haunches in the middle of the trees and tried looking up to see the stars. The Dog Star was hidden from view thanks to a giant pine tree spreading its branches all over the sky. Without it, he wouldn't be able to know which direction to go in to go back home. Home. Sigh, he missed home, even if it did mean sleeping in an old barrel instead of in a warm room with a burning fire.

A cold wind blew causing a shiver to go down Chief's spine. Even though the snow was mostly melted, the overall atmosphere was still in the low forties. He perked his ears up hoping to hear some nocturnal creature scampering about in the night, but he didn't hear anything at all. Very peculiar.

He could see his breath in front of him when he looked over towards a patch of moonlit snow that had managed to survive the slightly warmer temperatures. If one would call the low forties warmer. He suddenly felt extremely alone. He had forgotten how it felt to be that way, and he didn't like it.

"Hello, stranger," a voice from nowhere said in the eerie silence.

Chief nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the unexpected voice coming from behind him. In the dark, though, he couldn't see who it was.

"No need to be frightened," the voice said again, a very familiar voice, one that was getting closer to him. "I am not going to hurt you."

When he recognized who it was that was talking to him, Chief nearly fell over in shock. "Bright Star? What . . . how . . .where-"

"It is nice to see you too, Chief. It has been a while since we last met."

"Yeah, about five years," he said, all at once remembering what had happened back then. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

He rolled his eyes. "I know that, but what are you doing _here_, in this part of the forest, without your little wolf bodyguards to watch after you?"

"Oh, stop it. I was unaware of their presence at that time, and you know it."

"Yeah, sure, at least that's what it was made to seem like."

"Still stubborn, I see," Bright Star said with a bemused look, walking to the other side of him.

"Stubborn?" he asked, watching her move positions. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please, you have always been that way. And I am sure that you insist that everything is my fault and I prearranged it all just to crush you."

"You're darn right I think that! What was I supposed to think? One night, you show up, and all of a sudden these two brutes from your pack come along and try to kill me! And then you run off and get married to ol' what's-his-name."

"Pale Moon."

"Whatever." He turned away from her and sat down again, glaring at the distance, recalling everything that had happened so many years ago . . .

* * *

**FIVE YEARS EARLIER . . . **

Dark had settled in for the end of the day. The Master was asleep in his bed, giving his two-year old hound a chance to do as he pleased for the rest of the night. The Master didn't know this, but Chief had been sneaking off every night to see this new "friend" of his . . . who happened to be a wolf—and a _girl_ wolf at that.

They had known each other for a few months, and they had come to like each other very much over time. Chief was extremely anxious to get loose from his barrel tonight—he and Bright Star had made plans to run off on their own. Since she was a wolf, her family would never allow her to marry a hound, and surely the Master would never let his hunting dog be with a wolf. So a few nights ago, the two of them planned to run away.

Sure, he would miss his Master and helping him hunt down game. But he was in love, and love makes you do crazy things. He managed to work his collar loose, like he had done before, but this time he wouldn't return in the morning to quickly put it back on. He was going to leave it there hanging by the leash still attached to the barrel.

He crept off from the yard and headed down towards their meeting place, a small pond in the woods that had a small waterfall attached. He was surprised she wasn't already there. She usually came sooner than he did, but of course she had more than one person to sneak away from. He heard some brush moving over to the side and presently Bright Star appeared in the moonlight. Chief sighed when he saw her. She was extremely pretty, what with her snowy white coat that was barely drizzled with the lightest of silver.

She smiled sweetly when she came over to him to nuzzle. "I see you finally beat me here."

"Yeah, it took all I had, but I managed to make it. Sure am gonna miss this place, it's awful pretty. But not as pretty as you are."

"Stop it," she grinned, always embarrassed at compliments. She gave him a quick lick. "Ready to go?"

"I'm ready when you are."

"Not so fast!" a deep voice suddenly came from the forest.

Before either of them had time to think, a rather large male wolf jumped out from hiding and attacked poor confused Chief.

"No, Pale Moon, stop!" she screamed. She rushed at him but two other males leaped out and stood in her way.

"Silence, girl! What would your father think of you running off with this...this mongrel?"

"Get out of my way!" Bright Star growled. She tried to bite one of the guards but they both pinned her down easily. "No, let go of me!"

"Come on, princess, let's go." The bigger of the two clenched down on the scruff of her neck and began dragging her into the forest.

Meanwhile, Chief was holding up his own against the intruder, who was Pale Moon. He was quite a worthy opponent, much bigger than any other animal that the dog had gotten into scraps with. Suddenly, the wolf managed to grab him by the throat and clamp down, choking him. Chief tried to fight him off but he could feel himself getting weaker. His lungs were burning from lack of oxygen and he could taste the blood in his mouth. Just when he thought he was going to die, the wolf let go of him. He immediately gasped for air and could do nothing more than lay on the ground...bruised, bloody, and humiliated.

"Let that teach you not to mess with others property," Pale Moon stated. "If I ever see you near my bride again, I will personally kill you!"

Before long, all the wolves were gone, leaving Chief alone by the pool. He was so dazed, he could hardly remember where he was. Wait... Bride? Bright Star was already getting married to someone? But, he thought that she loved _him_!

Completely confused by what had just taken place, and what had been going on the past few months, Chief felt like a total idiot. He should have known things were too good to be true. Why on earth would she love a lowly hunting dog anyway? He should have realized that she was just messing with him, not at all serious in her affections. Deeply hurt by this life lesson, he vowed never to deal with women again. It was just too painful.

* * *

**PRESENT DAY**

Both of them remembered that awful day, although each of them had their own views about it. One of them felt that he was betrayed, the other felt as if her world had fallen apart. Apparently, Chief still felt very upset about this. He didn't think that she ever really loved him.

Bright Star walked up slowly from behind him and tried to place her paw on top of his. She wished that he'd understand that what happened wasn't her fault.

"Don't do that," he said, jerking his own paw away from her.

"Why not?"

"You know why, don't play dumb with me," Chief said angrily. "You're a far cry from an idiot, Bright Star. Don't try to butter me up thinking I'll just forgive you on a whim. After all, we were supposed to run off together, but instead you marry some crazy loon that tried to kill me."

"Yes, I did marry him, but only because I had to."

"Oh, so you were throwing yourself on me hoping that maybe I could get you away from that guy, and then once we were far enough away you'd just leave? Yeah, thanks, I feel a lot better now."

"There you go again with your wild stories," Bright Star sighed. "Just listen to me. No, I did not want to marry Pale Moon, but that was not the reason that I started being with you. And I did not know that I was being followed that night. After I came home, I was forced into matrimony and then we relocated to another part of the wood so I would be unable to run away to find you again."

Some tears came to her eyes as she remembered something else that happened that nobody alive today would know except for herself. "And . . . there's something else."

"By all means say it, you've done said everything else."

It took her a minute to piece herself together enough to say it. "We . . . we . . . we had cubs. You and I."

Chief's eyes went wide when he heard this. He backed off from her and gave her a shocked expression. "What did you say?"

His reaction made her burst into tears. "We had cubs, pups, whatever you want to call them. I found out after we had already moved away. I wanted to tell you so bad, but I was unable to."

Chief's mind went blank for a few seconds. A father. He had been a father, and he never knew it. Bright Star was still weeping from this memory of hers, which caused him to think that something had happened to the litter.

"So, what–what happened to them?"

"There were three of them, most precious little things you ever saw. Not long after the third one was born, Pale Moon did away with them right in front of me. Oh, I was so heart-broken. I had no one to talk to about it either, they would not have understood. They thought I was a disgrace, a joke. Even my own parents proved uncaring. They did not even give the babies a proper funeral. Just left in the cold snow, as if they were nothing. It was so hard to leave them. Even if they were dead, I wanted to be with them. They were the only thing that made me feel like I was still with you."

Chief felt an extremely awful feeling at the pit of his stomach. She really had been a victim in all of this. And there he was thinking that she was the cause of everything. He tucked his tail between his legs and scooted closer to her to lay his head on top of hers.

"Just leave me alone," she said suddenly moving away. "You have no idea what I went through after we were separated, nor do you care."

"Now who's being stubborn?" he started, taken aback by her accusation. "No, I don't know all the details of what happened to you after you left. But I do know this: regardless that I blamed you for it all, I did miss you, and I've thought about you every day since that last night we were together. I was extremely lonely and miserable without you around. And whether you believe me or not, I do care. I always cared. Even after I thought you had stabbed me in the back and made a mockery of my feelings, I would lie there at night hoping maybe you'd come back and everything could be like it was."

She wiped her eyes with a paw. "Things could never go back to the way they were. I wish I had never met you sometimes. At least then life would not have been so miserable."

Chief looked a little hurt at that comment. "Hey, I'm _glad_ I met you. I mean, you still lived with your family and had a bunch of folks to talk to. I didn't have anybody. After Ranger died . . . you know,big guy, long ears, taught me how to hunt . . . I nearly went crazy from keeping everything inside. Then you came along, and it was like everything was going to be all-right as long as you were there." He rested his head on hers, and this time she let it stay there. "Still love ya."

Bright Star snuggled up to him when she heard him say that and her fluffy tail started to wag slowly. "I still love you, too."

She couldn't remember the last time she had felt a true sense of happiness. Not even the birth of her and Pale Moon's cubs could replace the ones she had lost. And nothing could have replaced the love she felt so long ago . . . the love she still felt.

* * *

Awwwww, so sweet and sad at the same time! It took me **two days** to write this chapter so it would sound right, so I hope you guys like it! Oh yeah, "Ranger" is one of the dogs from the book "_The Fox and the Hound_", so he's not just someone I made up. Anyways, hope you liked and please review!


	19. Caught in Action

**A/N:** Hey y'all, sorry for taking so long! I've been going crazy this semester trying to study and fix up an apartment that me and my best friend just got. It's nuts!Anyway, I decided to be nice and give you something to read while I'm still busy, so enjoy! Oh yeah, and I had a couple of people tell me that they wanted me to write "Summer's Blossoming" when I get through with this story, so I'll see what I can do :)

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Nineteen: Caught in Action**

Copper was scared to death as he made his way through the forest that early morning. The silence was overwhelming, making him wonder if he was being watched. He was off to scout out Nero's pack so he could give their location to the wolves. It had sounded like such an easy mission, but now that he was out doing it he felt as if he had just thrown himself into the most dangerous situation ever.

His back paw landed on a twig, making a cracking sound, and he jumped from the sudden noise. He hadn't been so terrified he would have laughed about it. He hoped that he could find Nero before he found him . . .

* * *

Chief and Bright Star had stayed out all night talking about the good old days when they were young and what all had been going on since they last saw each other. Bright Star had explained the forest's devastating condition to him, and he felt stupid for not noticing. When he realized it was Nero that she was talking about, he got upset. 

"That snoot," he snorted. "Thinks he's better than everyone. He insulted me."

Bright Star started laughing. "Listen to yourself, you sound like a little pup."

"Well . . . he did. Should've torn his throat out when I had the chance to, then none of this would be happening."

"If not him, then someone else." She blinked a couple of times then realized something. "Oh, my! It's morning!"

Chief chuckled. "Yeah . . . I remember when we used to stay out that late all the time."

"Oh, hush," she said, swiping him playfully with her paw. "I have to go."

Chief looked devastated. "But you just got here."

"I have been here all night."

"And your point is?"

"See, you _are_ still stubborn. No matter, you might better come with me anyways. Your friend Copper might need all the help he can get."

"What a minute! Copper?" Chief asked confusedly. "What are you talkin' about? How do you know Copper?"

"Calm down. He is only helping us find the location of the dogs so we can ambush them."

"WHAT? Are you crazy, he's only a kid! He's gonna get killed out there!" He noticed he was yelling when he saw her hurt expression. "Sorry. It's just—how the heck do you _know_ him? And where was _I_?"

"You were sick. Copper went out to find you some help and I told him I was a healer so I followed him to where you were and healed you. Of course I did not know it was _you_ at the time, so it was a pleasant surprise."

"Wait, that was you? Ha! I was right, a girl _had_ been in there! But anyway, what is this you were saying about Copper helpin' y'all out?"

* * *

Copper had found them. The hounds. Nero. They were all sleeping around their Master's campfire. They had no idea that they were being watched. Good, that meant that an ambush would be successful . . . unless they proved too much for the wolves. That would mean disaster. 

Now, if Copper could only remember the location long enough to tell One Eye and Dark Cloud. That would be a little easier, all he had to do was trace his own scent back to where the pack was waiting.

* * *

One Eye and Dark Cloud were waiting patiently for Copper to return. Neither of them had said a word to each other since daybreak. They only wished for this all to be over so things would go back to normal and they could lead your separate lives. 

One Eye finally broke the silence. "You know, your mother has been gone an awfully long time. Where has she gone?"

"I have no idea, and I do not care," Dark Cloud answered bluntly. "She has no care for me neither. She hated my father for whatever it was he did to her so many moons ago, and since I am his son she sees him in me. So we have no real care for each other. Wherever she is, I hope she stays there. She gets on my nerves trying to tell me what to do and how to lead my pack. It is so humiliating."

"Bright Star has many reasons for hating Pale Moon. He did a horrible thing to her a long time ago and she has not yet been able to heal her broken heart. I am afraid she will never forgive him for what he has done."

"How do you know of this? What is it that you speak of?"

"I am quite sorry, but I swore to your mother never to tell any of her children the story. A promise is a promise, and this is one I intend to keep."

* * *

Copper only thought that all the hounds were asleep. Smitty was fully awake, gazing around the circle of hounds that he kept close company with. They all looked so miserable. He wished to escape this life under Nero and be free. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last under that crazy hound. He must have been stark raving mad to do the things he had done to this forest. 

Smitty rolled his eyes around to survey the backdrop of the forest. Not a soul in sight. Such a pity . . . wait, what's that? Smitty's ears perked up a little on his head in alertness. There was someone out there . . . by George, a hound! Where had he come from? He didn't look familiar . . . maybe if Smitty was able to escape Nero and the others without waking them up, maybe this stranger would let him go with him. He was going to have to be quiet though.

Smitty got up on his haunches very slowly and made his way even slower around the sleeping pack. He was surprised that he did not wake any of them. So far so good . . .it took him a while but he managed to slip past them without them knowing it.

* * *

Copper meanwhile was on his way back to the wolf pack when he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. The fur on the back of his neck stoof straight up and his tail tucked between his legs. Was it Nero? He turned around very quickly only to find that it wasn't Nero behind him but another dog—a very unhealthy looking one too. 

This dog following him was frighteningly skinny, his ribs showing on both sides. His whole body looked deprived and his fur wasn't lustrous like it was supposed to be. His eyes looked sunk into his head as well. When Copper turned around so suddenly like that, the strange dog seemed petrified.

"Uh, hey," Copper said in a friendly voice, not wanting to scare off someone that looked like they needed help. "Were you following me?"

"Please, mister, don't talk so loud," Smitty whispered, fearing Nero would somehow hear him. "Our pack leader might wake up and kill me if he sees I'm gone before I have a chance to escape."

Copper immediately comprehended who this dog might be. "You're one of Nero's?"

"Kind of, but I'm sick of it. We're all starving back there. Everyone's terrified of him, he won't let us stop hunting although there's nothing left. We're all too scared to disobey him because he's stronger than us even though he's just as starved as we are. Please, you have to help."

"Okay, okay. My name's Copper, and right now I _am_ trying to help . . . I guess."

"You look familiar, Copper, have we ever met? I'm Smitty."

"Uh, you remember a few months ago when you guys visited a cabin and Nero tried to pick a fight with an old grey Trigg?"

Smitty thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, kinda."

"Well, I was only a puppy then but that's probably where you saw me."

"Wow, you sure grew up then huh?"

"Yeah. Uh, listen, Smitty. You're the only one awake, right?" Smitty nodded his head. "Good. See, I was trying to find out your location so I could tell my friends where y'all were and have some kind of ambush attack."

"Ambush attack!" Smitty whispered in a high voice. "That's a little extreme, hardly any of us have the energy to fight! But whatever it takes to stop Nero, I'm all for it."

"Good for you. Come on, follow me."

"Not . . . so . . . fast," a voice said from the side. Copper and Smitty turned their heads to see . . .

* * *

Haha, cliffhanger! Gotcha! Stay tuned! 


	20. The Beginning of the End

**A/N:** Okay, I get it, apparently everyone wants me to write "Summer's Blossoming"! I actually wasn't expecting this Chief/Bright Star thing to be so popular, but I guess I was wrong! Someone had a question about the whole relationship thing, so don't worry, I'll explain _everything_ in that story, so I hope you all read it!Oh, and I brought back someone that we hadn't seen in a while in this chappie.Enjoy!

* * *

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Twenty: The Beginning of the End**

Copper and Smitty turned their heads to see Nero standing behind a bush a few feet to the side of them. How had he managed to get there without either of them seeing him? Smitty squeaked nervously and tried to hide behind Copper's huge body, but he was just as scared as he was. Nero chuckled in a deep voice as he approached them.

"Well, well, well, and well. What do we have here?" he asked looking over the two hounds. "A trespasser and a traitor."

"Back off, Nero," Copper said in a firm voice to hide his fear. "You're not gonna get away with all this. What you're doing is wrong."

"Oh, I know it's wrong, but it's all so much _fun_. It's all a game, you see. A game of survival. The strongest survive and it seems that _I_ am the strongest of all." He peered around at Smitty who was trembling something awful. "You really didn't think you could run away from me did you, Smitty? Tsk tsk tsk. So pathetic."

"Nero, you're sick," Copper growled, getting annoyed with his "I'm better than you" persona. "Don't you have a conscience? Any morality at all? You're destroying the wildlife with your so-called game and it's going to wind up killing us all. Everything will be thrown out of balance. If there's no game animals, what are we supposed to eat? In fact, if there's no wildlife to hunt, us hunting dogs are out of a job. You ever think of that?"

"You Americans are so conservative sometimes. Who cares about _them_—game animals. We hunters are the rulers of this land and I intend to keep it that way . . . and I have plans for rearranging this way of life the way I want it. I'll be the king."

"Never!" Copper shouted, lunging at Nero. But Nero was a trickster, he knew all the rules of the game and how to manipulate them. When Copper jumped for him, the English Foxhound rammed his head into Copper's lungs to make him fall back and lose his breath. Copper ended up on the ground gasping for air.

Nero glared at Smitty who was absolutely petrified for the moment. Smitty saw the look that he was being given and took off running for his life. Nero kicked up his heels and took after him. Traitors didn't live, not under his watch! Smitty tried his hardest to keep running from the mad hound but all the weeks of deprived nutrition wouldn't allow him to continue much longer.

At last Nero caught up with him and bit him hard on the back of the neck to make him fall to the ground. Smitty looked up tiredly, having given up hope of a better life elsewhere. The end had come for him. Nero smiled down wickedly before he . . .

Copper was still panting for air when Nero returned from his chase. Smitty was nowhere to be seen, causing Copper to fear the worst. One look at the deranged hound made his fears a reality—he had blood on his muzzle. Nero glanced down at Copper, wondering if he should even deal with this pup or save him for later. Noises in the back of the forest made up his mind.

The two hounds' ears raised up at the sounds. Nero grinned before telling Copper, "You'll never stop me, I'm invincible. This whole fores shall be mine."

He took off running towards the remainder of his pack howling at the top of his lungs. Copper tried to stand up but it took a lot of effort. He could hear Nero yelling at his pack to get up and follow him immediately. He heard the others gradually come to life and start howling as well as they plunged into the forest to rid whatever else living was around. Their master woke up from the noise and with all the excitement forgot to put out the campfire that had been burning. (A/N: remember that part)

* * *

Bright Star and Chief had heard the commotion and was running towards it to see what was going on. First thing they saw was the horribly mutilated body of a hound. He was lying on his side and his neck had been torn open, blood trailing everywhere. The kill looked pretty fresh from what they could tell. 

"Nero is starting to go after his own kind," Bright Star realized out loud. "We are running out of time. You find Copper and I will go and bring the pack with me."

Neither of them wasted time. Bright Star took off threw the trees back to where her pack was waiting. Chief took another look at the body, shivered with disgust and pity for the creature, then ran past to search for Copper. As much as he had been annoying him lately he hoped nothing like _that_ happened to him. Goodness, if he ever found Copper in that state, he would . . .

"Copper?" he asked when he caught sight of him up ahead. He seemed all right, but he looked like he'd been injured somehow. Chief ran to his side. "Copper, you all right? What happened?"

The younger hound coughed a few times before answering. "Nero . . . he . . . he snuck up on us."

"Us?"

"Me and Smitty . . . he was trying to escape from him and wanted to come with me. I think something happened to him, I hadn't seen him."

Chief's mind went back that poor dog that he and Bright Star had just seen. He didn't have the heart to tell Copper that his little friend had been murdered by that villain. Copper noticed Chief's expression and he knew then that Smitty had been killed. He sighed.

"I could have helped him. He looked so scared, I felt sorry for him."

Chief placed a paw on Copper's shoulder. "It's not your fault, sonny. Nero's just . . . crazy. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Which way did they go, we got to stop them before they do anything else harmful."

* * *

Nero and the hounds had picked up the scent of a doe—a young one. They had found where she had been sleeping. They noticed the smell of a young buck as well but the doe's was fresher and easier to follow. Nero led the way on a frenzied hunt to track down and kill this creature. 

Howling louder than a storm, they all found her. The doe, frightened beyond reason, ran and found safety on top of a small cliff that was emerging from the side of a mountain gully. The dogs jumped up and tried to grab one of her long slender legs in their mouths to drag her down to them but they missed everytime. She began to scream loudly for someone, her mate probably, but they were too busy trying to catch her than worry about him.

Not much longer after that, a buck _did _come. He seemed enraged and began to use his horns and legs to battle them away from his doe. The dogs then became focused on bringing the buck down—they would worry about the doe later. Fighting and struggling to take the majestic animal down, the dogs ended up on the losing side. The doe had escaped during the ruckus and the buck gave them the slip while going up the side of a steep incline. Huge rocks fell and landed on the dogs, some of them killed from the impact of the stones slamming them on the head and then getting buried under the pile.

"Come on, don't worry about them!" Nero roared, enraged that the deer got away. "You can't help them now, let's go! We can't let them get away!"

But the dogs continued to mourn their losses. A few had been their kin, longtime friends of theirs, teammates. They couldn't just leave them without giving them a proper good-bye. Nero became impatient and grabbed one of the mourners on the ears and tore the end of it off, causing the attacked one to yelp in pain and fall back into the middle of the crowd.

"What are you waiting for! They're going to get away! _Move_!"

With that they snapped to attention and like robots they began to follow their leader once again.

* * *

"They're after a doe." 

Copper looked at Chief with a confused look. "How do you know?"

"That scent's fresher," he replied, giving the nesting place a good look-over. "Besides, it's easier to take down a doe than it is a buck. But I'm almost positive that if they mess with her, that buck will show up and give them a fight. Come on, let's see if we can catch up."

* * *

The wind began to pick up. The blazing fire that Eric Lemmons failed to put out began to flare up and crackle. Flames began to grow and they started moving towards the direction of the hunters and the hunted . . .

* * *

Amos Slade woke up to the sound of someone beating down his door. He shot up out of bed and rubbed his eyes awake. Who could be here and at this hour? Grumbling as he walked across the cold floor, he yanked the door open and was about to give a good chew-out session when he suddenly recognized who it was. 

"White Buffalo?" he asked in a surprised tone. "Where'd you come from?"

"No time to explain, Mr. Slade," the Native American said hurriedly, walking inside to escape the cold. "I have seen smoke rising to the east. I fear that a fire will ensnare the whole forest and kill everything in it."

"What are you talkin' about?" Amos asked, not understanding. He looked out the door and looked to the east and noticed that Cherokee was right. "Great Scot, what are we goin' to do?" He looked around his cabin and saw his dogs were gone. "And where'd my dogs go? I hope they're not out in that, they could get killed!"

"Calm down, Mr. Slade, I'm sure they'll be all right. We're going to have to hurry. You can ride with me on my horse to get us there faster, I doubt your truck can make it through those trees."

"Okay, but aren't we gonna need anything? Or at least call someone?"

"Call one of the rangers, tell them where the fire is and to get someone there right away. We haven't much time."

* * *

See, I hadtold y'all White Buffalo would come back eventually. Anyways, hope y'all liked, please review! OH yeah, I just read on the main page that we can somehow reply to the reviews that we writers get. I'll have to figure that one out . . . okay, signing out! 


	21. Fire, Earth, and Water Part One

**A/N:** Sorry so short, guys! Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

* * *

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Twenty-One: Fire, Earth, and Water Pt. One**

"Nero, I don't think we're going to find them!" Dunner commented after about five minutes of searching for the two deer. The other pack members muttered their agreement. Nero turned sharply at them and snarled.

"I really don't care _what_ you think, just as long as you do as I say. And I say that we'll find them and bring them down!"

"But sir, we're not in the best shape to do this," Dunner kept on. "The deer are too fast and nimble for us, and we haven't been properly kept fit."

Nero growled and stepped up in Dunner's face. "Any more complaints, ol' boy? You keep this up and you'll end up like Smitty did."

The others gasped and mumbled to each other. They hadn't even noticed that the young dog was missing until Nero said something. What had he done to him?

"And that goes for the rest of you as well," Nero added, giving them all the most evil look he could make. "Now let's go and do our duty and find those ignorant animals before I kill you all right here!"

"Y'know, the last day to hunt doe was two weeks ago," a voice came from behind Nero. He quickly turned around to face whoever dared speak up against him. The other hounds began to tremble, thinking that a ghost was among them or something.

"Show yourself!" he demanded, teeth bared and claws sinking into the dirt. "I order you at once!"

A few seconds later, the forms of two dogs emerged from the bushes. Nero instantly recognized them at once. "Well, if it isn't the young bumbling hero and his elderly bodyguard." He looked at Chief. "Long time, no see, pops."

"And I _still_ don't like ya," Chief growled, already fed up with this fellow.

"To each his own," Nero simply stated. "Now if you two don't mind, we have a deer to catch."

"Not today you don't," Copper spoke up boldly. "You heard him, the last day to hunt doe was two weeks ago."

"Who's going to find out?" Nero sneered. "And as a matter of fact, we happen to be after the buck, too. Nothing illegal about that."

"Yeah, but everything else you've done _is_," Chief growled. "Who do you think you are, some kind of dictator or something?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing. Now get out of my way." Nero tried to move forward but the two dogs wouldn't let him. "You're trying my patience," the crazed hound snarled threateningly. "If you don't let me by in the next three seconds . . ."

Chief stuck his nose in his face. "You'll what? Sic' your boys on us? No offense to them, but they're in no condition to do anything requiring physical strength. Of course, you already know that. You tryin' to work them death? Without them followin' you around, you're just one guy. You're nothin'."

"You're wrong!" Nero blurted out. "Without _me_, _they_ are nothing! If not for me they wouldn't belong to the most powerful hunting party ever formed! Now you better step down or I'll gut you right here in front of your little friend."

"Go ahead and try!"

"My pleasure!"

Nero hurled all his weight against the older dog, who was caught a little off guard since he wasn't really expecting an attack. In defense, Chief grabbed one of Nero's long ears and pulled down hard on them to try and slam his face in the dirt. It worked but Nero bucked himself back up and started the attack again.

In the distance, Copper and the others heard the sound of howling. He immediately knew that help was on the way and started howling towards them. The first that he saw was Bright Star, leading the pack, all the others in close pursuit. Nero's pack suddenly felt the need to defend themselves against these wild animals coming to kill them. Both forces collided in a blur of browns, blacks, whites, and grays. Tooth against tooth, claw against claw, canine against canine . . .

* * *

Amos was hanging on for dear life as he and White Buffalo raced through the forest on his horse. They had reached the forest rangers and told them the situation. They had said they would send all the men they had to help control the fire. Amos and White Buffalo in the meantime were heading over there to see if they could find the perpetrator responsible. For some reason, Eric Lemmons came to Amos' mind. Being careless sounded like something he would do . . .

* * *

Dark Cloud attached his jaws to the throat of one hound and instantly brought him down, snapping his neck. One Eye and the others were attempting to do the same to the others. In confusion, one of the wolves accidentally attacked Copper. Bright Star intervened at that moment and scolded the wolf quickly before things got out of hand. 

Through the whole thing, Calm Waters hung back. He saw the enraged faces on both sides of the battle and he was scared out of his mind. Why couldn't things just be peaceful and quiet? He couldn't stand the violence. Two hounds caught sight of the small wolf and took after him. Fearing for his life, Calm Waters turned tail and ran. He could hear Dark Cloud yelling after him, "Traitor! You are not welcome in my pack any longer!", but he didn't care. He just wanted to escape.

He ran in between two oak trees when all of a sudden a most curious thing happened. The ground under his paws seemed to give way and he found himself falling into a dark hole. The two hounds stopped at the edge of the opening, snarling menacingly at the wolf. He had fallen into a trap. He shook his head. A feeling of deja vu washed over him. _This is just like my dream_, he thought,_ my nightmare._ The last thing he saw was a mouthful of teeth and then all went dark . . .

* * *

So sad, but at least we're getting some action around here!Stay tuned to see the outcome and aftermath of the battle, and please review! 


	22. Fire, Earth, and Water Part Two

**A/N: **Ugh, finals week! Okay, just one or two more chapters after this one so enjoy!

* * *

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Fire, Earth, and Water Pt. Two**

The creek was freezing. Ice was floating down in chunks as the water flowed downstream. It would have been a beautiful sight to watch if two dogs weren't in the middle of it trying to take the other one down.

Nero grabbed one of Chief's ears in an attempt to rip it off his head, but Chief maneuvered around to side-slam his attacker face first into the freezing water and hold him there until he let go. Nero kicked and squirmed from lack of air and eventually released his grip, allowing Chief to jump out of the way when he shot up from the water panting for air.

"Give up yet?" the Trigg hound asked his adversary.

"I don't know the meaning of the words!"

"That's one thing we have in common then!"

* * *

Eric Lemmons had lost his dogs somewhere during the chase. He could barely hear them from where he was at, signifying that he had either gone the wrong way or they were just farther than he thought. One thing for sure though, he wanted that deer. He wanted a big buck for his collection. 

He heard the sound of hooves from up above him and before he knew it he saw a giant buck flying through the air trying to reach the next crag. Eric flung his gun up and shot. He saw the deer stiffen and fall oddly to the other side. Great, how was he going to get it down from there? About five seconds after he performed this act, he heard the sound of more footprints coming from behind him. He turned and to his surprise saw two men riding on a paint horse.

When the horse reached him the two men jumped down. Eric immediately recognized one of them. "Amos Slade, fancy meetin' you here."

"Eric, what in tarnation are you doing out here?" Amos demanded. "Have you gone insane?"

"For what, shooting a buck? It's still deer season, y'know."

"I'm not talkin' about that!" Amos yelled. "I mean causing a forest fire! Are you so inept that you forget to put out a fire before you go off?"

"What are you talkin' about, ya old coot, I did put out that—" he paused to think. "Oh. No I didn't. I heard the dogs barking and I had to rush to chase after them. Must've forgot to put it out."

"You don't have to act like it's no big deal, that fire's going to kill half the forest!"

White Buffalo spoke up at this. "Actually, I think he already has."

Both white men looked at him funny. "What?" Amos asked.

"I have noticed that there are not many animals left out here, much less than there were before. I had heard complaints from a few passer-byers that someone with a pack of hounds was running around from one side of the forest to the other and wiping out everything that was living. I have a feeling that they were talking about you."

Amos swung his head around to face Eric. "Is this true? Are you taking more than your share? Dagnabbit, Eric, haven't you ever heard of a quota!"

"Shut up, Slade, I don't need this from you," Eric growled. "Who's gonna stop me, you and some Injun?"

"No, but the forest rangers might," Amos shot back.

Eric pushed Amos out of his way and began to take off running. White Buffalo ran after him and tackled him to the ground. Amos came up to help hoist the poacher to his feet. "And when we get this fire put out and tell those rangers you're little hunting stories, you're going to be gone for a long long time."

* * *

Copper began to smell smoke. In fact, he could almost taste it. His eyes began to water up and he began coughing. He looked around him and began to notice a misty haze had appeared. He looked to the back of him and noticed that the fire was heading in their direction and eating the trees behind him. 

In a panic, Copper began to shout at everyone. "_STOP!_ Everyone _stop_!"

They ceased what they were doing but they didn't like it. Dark Cloud snarled. "What is your problem, _dog_?"

"The fire, it's headed our way!" he pointed out.

As soon as they saw the fire, Nero's pack took off running quick as lightening in the opposite direction. The wolves congregated and began yelling at themselves about what to do about it. One Eye raised his voice above the others.

"There is nothing we can do about it, we have to rely on either man or the rain! Run for it!"

The pack unanimously agreed on this and together they went flying through the trees. Copper, not knowing what else to do, followed them until he suddenly remembered something . . . Chief! Nero! They were still fighting somewhere! Copper came to an instant stop and began to call for Bright Star. She heard him and went running back to see him.

"Copper, what is it, we have to get out of here!"

"Chief! He and Nero are still around here somewhere! We have to find them!"

She got a panicked look on her face when she heard this. "What direction did they go? Hurry, we have to find them before it's too late!"

Copper was a little shocked at her concern for Chief's safety, since he had no idea that they even knew each other. But he nodded in the direction he had seen them head in and they took off together.

* * *

Meanwhile, the fire was spreading to where Nero and Chief were fighting. Flames began to engulf one side of the river while the other side remained untouched. Nero didn't seem concerned in the least about the present condition of the forest and was more determined than ever not to lose. 

Chief backed up on top of a slippery rock and ended up landing on his back. Freezing cold water entered his veins quicker than a flash of lightening. Nero saw his chance and pounced in attempts to land on his adversary and drown him. But Chief was too smart for that. At the right moment, he used his back legs to kick Nero up and over him to where he would land on _his_ back . . . on shore.

The shock of hitting the ground took the breath out of Nero for a few quick moments. Chief trotted out of the creek and shook himself dry before staring at the pathetic hound lying on the ground.

"I'd kill you right now, but I'm not like you."

The fire was getting closer and Chief knew he was going to have to find someway out of here on his own. He didn't know what had become of the others but he prayed that Copper and Bright Star were all right.

Out of nowhere, the very people he was thinking about came rushing towards him. Bright Star reached him first. "Oh, thank heavens! Are you all right?" She saw Nero lying helpless on the ground, struggling to get up after having the wind knocked out of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he told her, giving her a quick rub on the nose just as Copper came up.

"Chief, we gotta get out of here, the whole place is burning down!" He glanced back and forth between him and Bright Star. "You two know each other or something?"

"It's a long story and I doubt you'd care to hear it," Chief replied.

A branch from overhead caught fire and came crashing down towards them. Chief pushed Bright Star out of the way so she wouldn't get hurt. It landed and released burning chunks of material into the air before they came floating back down.

"Okay, I'm ready to get out of here now," Copper said, then the three of them took off running together.

Nero managed to pick himself up on all fours and starting shouting hoarsely, "Come back, we're not through here! Get back here!" He painstakingly began to run after them all though he was so far behind that whenever he tried to follow them any further, flames would jump in his face or a large branch would land in his way.

In a rage, he blindly began to just run in whatever direction he could. At one point he simply heaved himself through some flames in order to get away from it. He began to think he was running in circles. He crashed through some burning bushes, leaving his fur singed in several areas of his body. But he didn't care. He just wanted to get out of there.

"My forest," he muttered as he stopped to rest in a part of the wood that had not yet been caught on fire. "My beautiful forest, ruined! Ruined!"

"You mean _our_ forest, right?" a voice came from in front of him. It was then Nero realized that he was surrounded—by fire behind him and wolves in front of him. And the wolves looked very upset. "You realize that you are the cause of this?" a black wolf with glowing yellow eyes snarled. "You have destroyed our home with your selfishness and killed mercilessly all of its inhabitants."

Nero instantly became very humble when he saw no way out of this. "Did–did I do that? Oh, I'm very sorry, I had no idea I was doing any harm. I was only doing my job."

"Silence!" the black wolf snapped. "You knew what you were doing and now you shall take punishment for your actions." He nodded to the wolves on both sides of him and they all began to approach the trembling hound.

"No, you can't do this!" he argued to the wolves. "This isn't right, you can't do this to me! I am the greatest of them all, I—" The sound of howls drowned out his words and the flames leaped towards the sky. The days of Nero had ended . . .


	23. Peace Reigns Supreme

**Winter's Rising**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Peace Reigns Supreme**

The forest rangers eventually arrived. It took almost two days to bring the fire to a complete halt. News reporters showed up in the middle of it wanting interviews with everyone involved. The cameramen snapped pictures of the damages, the men working, and the arrest of Eric Lemmons on charges of arson, breaking the hunting quotas, hunting out of season, and animal abuse. His sickly dogs were transported to an animal hospital in the next town to get them the proper treatment and build their strength back up.

Amos and White Buffalo were given handsome rewards for capturing Lemmons. White Buffalo had no need for money so he donated it to the children's orphanage. Amos figured he'd just save his in the bank in case of an emergency.

Copper was excited to see White Buffalo again—or as he called him, "the Stranger". White Buffalo pulled out some jerky to give to the dogs when he saw them for the first time in what felt like ages. Amos gave both of them a hug when he saw they hadn't been hurt by the fire.

Late one night after all the excitement had died down, Copper and Chief snuck out of the cabin to say good-bye to the wolves—one in particular, Bright Star. Copper was beginning to get the idea that there was something between those two, but he sure didn't expect Chief to acknowledge him with a "yes" or "no" answer.

One Eye's pack was also in on the celebration of ridding the forest of the terrible Nero. It was the first time in a long time that the two packs had been together and actually gotten along. Dark Cloud was still his usual self, but he seemed happy that the situation had been resolved. One Eye was conversing with Bright Star at the moment.

"So, dear cousin, I see you have again managed to survive through another ordeal."

"Indeed, I have. I must be used to it by now, I guess. Every time I turn around, something happens."

She saw two figures coming forward and she smiled. "There they are, my special guests," she said to One Eye, who squinted to look. He got a peculiar look on his face and punched Bright Star in the front leg.

"Ha, I recognize that one. If Pale Moon were alive, he would have a fit."

"Pale Moon can rot at core of the earth for all I care," she retorted back, punching _him_ in the leg before going over to greet the two of them. One Eye could only shake his head in the humor of it all.

Copper had made himself somewhat useful by playing with the cubs that were present. They enjoyed practicing their hunting tactics on him, although they mostly ended up getting gently knocked on their backs and held down by one paw. Everyone else just sort of talked about whatever came to mind.

The time finally came for the celebration to end. Dark Cloud called everyone's attention to him as he closed the party with final thoughts. "I want to thank you all for attending today. It has been a great pleasure being in your company tonight. We all appreciate the fine efforts that you have put in for the cause of saving this forest. For now at least, the forest is once again safe. It will take time for nature to replenish itself, but that is to be expected. We all mourn the losses that we have suffered through the battle, but it _was_ for a good cause."

One Eye inputted, "Well said, Dark Cloud. Let us all hope that things stay this peaceful for a good long time—the _last_ thing I want to see before I die is for those lousy foxes to congregate and rise up against us."

Everyone laughed at that remark, except for Copper. He didn't see what was so funny about it. He whispered to Chief for an explanation, but Bright Star heard him as well.

"You mean you have not told him about our history with the foxes?" Bright Star asked Chief in feigned shock. He shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn't his fault. Bright Star moved over beside Copper to explain things to him.

"A long time ago when the world was young and new, the Fox and the Wolf and the Dog used to be good friends and cousins. Everyday they would go hunting together, play together, and all sorts of other things. One day after hunting, the Wolf brought back with him five raccoons. The Fox had no luck that day and became envious when he saw the Wolf's kill. The Dog came back with ten squirrels. Again the Fox was envious for he had not caught anything. When asked what _he_ had killed that day, the Fox developed a plan. He lied to his friends saying that he had killed a stag deep in the woods and was unable to drag it out of the woods on his own. The Wolf and Dog had never had any reason to doubt the Fox, so they believed him. The Fox went on further to say that if they could drag the stag out of the forest together, they could keep it in exchange for their five raccoons and ten squirrels.

"The Wolf and Dog saw no harm in that, so they agreed to the exchange. The Fox told them in what direction to go and when the two were out of sight, he snatched up the raccoons and squirrels and ran off with them to his burrow. The Dog and Wolf realized they had been tricked and fooled by their friend the Fox. They no longer trusted him as their friend, so they made a pact never to associate themselves with him and consider him their enemy. And to this day, all wolves and dogs are friends and cousins, but the fox is an outsider and is hunted down by everyone because of his tricky ways."

Copper couldn't believe his ears. Foxes not to be trusted? But Tod had never done anything to him that ever caused him to doubt his faithfulness to their friendship. He had been nothing but a good friend to him since they met. Copper wanted to argue with them but he knew better. He didn't want to get in any trouble for associating with what they were calling "the enemy".

Chief gave a yawn. "Copper, it's 'bout time we get back to the cabin. We have to get up early in the morning to leave for home."

Home. Copper couldn't wait to go home. Back to his old barrel, his waterbowl, seeing the familiar scenery of the front yard, hearing the chickens clucking in their pen. He wondered briefly how Tod had been holding out over the winter, how much he had grown, what he had been up to. It seemed like such a long time ago that they were children frolicking in the woods when it had in reality only been a few months!

* * *

Copper was the first one to reach the cabin when they finally arrived. Bright Star had accompanied them to say a final good-bye.

She gave him a small hug. "Good-bye, Copper. It was nice meeting you. I hope you have good luck in the rest of your life's journey."

"Thanks, Bright Star. I'll miss ya," he replied. "Thanks for everything."

"You are quite welcome, dear," she smiled as he turned to run to the door.

He skidded to a halt when he made it to the door to turn around and ask, "Chief, you comin'?"

"Uh, hang on, gimme a minute."

Copper shrugged and went on inside. Chief turned towards Bright Star.

"Well, I guess. . . I guess this is really good-bye, huh?" he asked her with a sad look on his face.

"I am afraid it is. You have your world, and I have mine."

"Not very fair is it?" He wrapped a front leg around her, giving her a hug. "I'm gonna miss you something awful."

"I will miss you also. Who knows, we may see each other again some day."

"Yeah, maybe. Though if I'd have had a mind back then, I probably would have gone after ya and kidnapped you back or somethin'."

She punched him playfully. "You are crazy. You would have ended up killed. And just think, if we had run away, Copper may not have turned out the way he did. I think you did a splendid job raising him."

"Aw, shucks, I'm not exactly a qualified parent, but I did my best." He leaned down and rubbed her on the nose. "Bye."

"Good-bye," she whispered. "Take care."

She ran into the woods back to her home, leaving Chief standing there with this lovestruck look on his face. If he had any sense in his head he would go after her, but he knew that there was no point in that anymore. The mood was broken when he heard someone from the porch say, "And you said you didn't even _like_ girls!"

Chief shot his head around to see Copper with his head out the door with this big grin on his face. Chief instantlytransformed back into his usual self and said, "Son, if you don't get back in that cabin and mind your own business, I'm gonna—"

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Chief was still a little depressed over having to say good-bye to Bright Star last night. Half of him wasn't ready to go home and back to that hum-drum life of theirs. The other half of him _did _want to go home just to get away from this forest and all the memories that had been made here. The Master was getting the last of his stuff when the older dog made his way towards the truck.

Now that he thought about it, he really was ready to leave this place. Back to his barrel where he could sleep all day until hunting season rolled around again and just relax and not have any worries. He was just about to hop into his spot in the front seat when he came to a sudden halt—Copper was sitting in _his_ seat. And he had this kingly look about him, as if he had done something so grand and extraordinary that he thought he had the right to sit there.

Chief got extremely annoyed at this and was about to growl the youngster down when he suddenly remembered a few months ago before they had left to go on this trip, he had told Copper that the only way he could sit in the front seat was if he earned the right to do so.

Now he wished he hadn't told him that, because he really wanted to sit there. That was _his_ spot, dagnabbit! But he bit his lip in order to keep himself from pitching a fit, not wanting to do anything to cause an argument and get them in trouble, so he downheartedly made his way to the back of the truck and hopped in. He hated having to lie down on these nasty, smelly furs. It made him feel sick to his stomach that he was on top of a bunch skins that belonged to dead animals. So degrading. Well, Copper would get away with sitting up front _this_ time, but he guaranteed that it would not happen again. Puh, first he steals the spotlight and then he steals his spot! He just would never understand . . .

Copper meanwhile was enjoying his time up front. He felt that he had earned the right. He had successfully completed his first hunt and he helped bring down a powerful force that was tearing down the forest. The Master cranked up the engine and began the long drive home.

Copper looked back at the cabin that was disappearing in the distance and felt a little sad. He had practically grown up there—he had learned respect, responsibility, morality, how to make tough decisions, made friends, made enemies—all of life's lessons he had learned there. And then he looked ahead to the road in front of him. What new adventures were waiting for him at home? What new lessons about life awaited him? He would only have to find out when he got there and take each problem one step at a time—just like he had done before.

**The End**

* * *

So sad, it's the end! And I really enjoyed writing this story too! Don't worry, I have a sequel to this story called **Spring's Awakening**, which is pretty much based on the original Mannix book (expect epic sadness, I cried just thinking about it). But in the meantime, be patient and I hope you all enjoyed reading **Winter's Rising** and thank you all for your wonderful reviews and your patience!


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